All in Good Time
by Ranranami
Summary: If David had decided right from the beginning he wasn't too hot on following Max's rules, what might have turned out differently? His agenda would have been very different, too, if Star and Laddie hadn't been brought into the equation. Too bad for the Emersons, it doesn't seem like they'd ever be free from the Lost Boys, no matter what their reasons for meeting might have been.
1. The Race

Kage: And we've already finished writing this one but have! You can't have it all yet!

Ran: Of course not, you greedy little birdies…

* * *

The blonde stood on the edge of the cliffs, looking out over the sea as he examined the two fangs in his hand. A small smirk spread across his lips as he slid them into his pocket. Tonight was a good night and now that their little problem was out of the way, well, the following nights were gonna be just as good, maybe even better. He tipped his head back and let out a whoop, his brothers sounded their reply and he laughed. Yes. He felt fucking incredible, and things could only go up from here.

He could still hear Max's final words before he made his move, did something he hadn't even imagined himself capable of.

" _You boys are too wild, and I've had enough of it. I'm going to find you a sister...maybe even a little brother. Then we'll see about finding you a mother, too. We can be a proper family…"_ That crazed and distant look in Max's eyes at the time...the stupid fuck didn't even see it coming. He was a pitiful excuse for a head vampire, and living as a human for so long had driven him insane. Putting him down like a mad dog was the only sensible thing to do. David's one regret was that they hadn't done it sooner. About fifty years ago. Maybe even before that...but better late than never.

He was not going to make the same mistakes Max did. He'd do things the way they should be, none of this family bullshit. No more ridiculous little errands and chores to take care of in-between hunts. No more playing games. No more white picket fences, or pow-wows outside the house because Max didn't want them getting any mud on his precious carpets, or yelling at them for coming to the video store. While they would miss taunting him, dancing on the razor's edge of Max's patience, and parking their bikes on his flower beds, none of those little things could compare with the glee they'd felt seeing his face crumple when David offed him. It was picture perfect, too bad they couldn't take one to remember it with.

Max never expected David to go against him. Didn't know the power the younger vampire actually had and it cost him dearly. Max never saw it coming, never saw the stake that David had hidden up his sleeve until it was too late. It was rather pathetic really, wasn't much of a challenge, but what did David expect? After living as a human for so long and trying to get the boys to do it too he should have expected that weakness.

* * *

It was a fun concert. Mostly. Michael had been scanning the crowd half the time in-between joking with Sam and actually listening to the music. No chicks worth getting to know, though. Plenty of them pretty...none of them grabbed him. Packing everything into one car and moving had been rough. A girl would be a nice distraction.

He chilled out beside the dork shop Sam decided to pop into, preferring to just people-watch in favor of going inside and have his little brother yap his ear off about newsprint and men in tights or some shit. It was all Greek to him. But Sam probably felt the same about the games he'd occasionally play in or take him to. Tit for tat.

Crossing his arms, Michael watched a small group rough-housing beside the shop, clearly planning on pulling some stupid shit. Nicking a few comics, or whatever. Frankly, he didn't much care. If they weren't bugging him, they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Man...if he didn't find a job soon, or a pretty piece to mess around with, preferably both...he just knew he was going to go nuts hanging out at grandpa's slaughter-house inn.

He looked away from the group beside him, letting his eyes trail over other shops and people rushing about. Summer crowds. Would it be this busy later, when school started? Maybe there'd be more jobs. Another reason to bring it up with mom again...he really didn't see much point in going back. There was no way he had plans for college. He could just skip it altogether and go straight to work. Not like mom didn't need the help right now, anyway. Still, wouldn't hurt to try to have a little fun while the summer was still marching on ahead...he'd never really been to many beach towns before, anyway.

His eyes trailed across the crowds, until he noticed something that stood out. A group of guys hanging around some bikes. Good ones. Not like his. And they had a few girls hanging around them, too...not bad looking either. He quickly looked away when the shorter one nudged a spiky blonde, pointing him out. Ah, fuck it. Maybe he'd go to the beach tomorrow.

"Sam!" Michael poked his head into the store, right when one of the douchebags in the group nearby finally worked up the nerve to snatch the comic he'd had his eye on, and they dashed away, nearly knocking him on his ass.

"Mother fuckers!" Michael shouted after them, rubbing his arm and glaring back at his brother as the dudes he'd been chatting with took off after the thieves. "Hurry up and pick something. Let mom know I'm going for a ride. I'll be home later."

Sam gave him a sarcastic salute, snickering as he glanced down at something in his hands before rolling it up and tucking it into a shirt pocket. "Those guys are nuts," he shook his head.

"Can't be worse than gramps," Michael replied dryly, turning back to glance over at the bikers. Not really the kinda guys he'd hang out with...but their clothes were cool. Maybe he'd pick up that trash collecting job he'd heard about, after all.

* * *

David glanced down at Marko, "Would you stop poking me in the side?" He growled softly, eyes narrowed.

" _Look at that guy over there. Think he's homeless? Haven't seen him before,"_ Marko smirked, turning back towards the girls they'd been chatting up. Probably a meal for later. They already had plans for tonight, after all. Still didn't hurt to have an easy meal picked out, anyway.

David shook his head, looking up at him. His clothes were in too good of condition to be homeless, " _Either tourist or just moved in."_ He raised an eyebrow, spotting the smaller blonde in the loud shirt, " _Brothers."_ He stated, " _I bet they just moved in."_ There was something about the brunette, something that nagged at him, " _I want to test him."_ He stated calmly.

That got Dwayne and Paul's interest, and they both looked over at David curiously. Dwayne remained silent, but Paul couldn't help but break into one of his little snickers. That seemed to give the girls in front of them pause, not sure what to think now that the bikers had stopped paying much attention to them, apparently laughing at some private joke.

" _Max dead for two days, and you're already testing someone? How long has it been, Davey? Ten years since the last one?"_ Paul shook his head, " _splattered real nice under those rails, didn't he?"_

" _There's something about him."_ He paused, " _Was Marko's fault the last one splattered, he picked him."_

" _Better than those twins Paul picked out…those chicks were fish bait for weeks…"_ Marko shrugged, glancing back over at the brunette, who looked like he was walking towards them.

" _Gonna test him, tonight if it works out."_ He looked at the brunette again, who soon walked right by them and climbed onto a bike just at the edge of the boardwalk. Perfect, would make him so much easier to test, " _Let's go."_ He smiled at the ladies, "We'll see you girls later, maybe we can meet up a little later tonight."

* * *

As Michael rode away from the boardwalk, he cursed himself for not just leaving it at home tonight and hitching a ride with mom. In this fog, he couldn't see shit. For all he knew, he wasn't even going in the right direction, and his light barely did much but illuminate the smoky wisps a few feet ahead. Maybe he'd turn back and figure out a place to leave it overnight...not smart, but better than breaking his neck if he did something stupid.

The sound of engines revving got his attention, echoing about him, a cacophonous scream. Michael frowned, daring to strain his eyes in the darkness and pick out the source, but he could barely see much in front of them, and from what he could tell...he was still alone. "The fuck…" He mumbled, pushing his bike a little further. Faster. Not as fast as she could go, but almost. There was a whoop around him, echoing in the fog, making it impossible to pinpoint. He could hear them, shouting, urging him on, but unable to tell exactly what they were saying.

A delirious part of him wondered if they were ghosts, phantoms of bikers who'd rode on nights like this into grisly deaths with trees or colliding into cars as they'd somehow drive into a busy road without realizing it. The rush of it, the adrenaline coursing through him, made those thoughts seem completely inconsequential, totally unimportant. For a moment, he almost began to enjoy it, if it was at least a distraction from his boredom and frustration. He was racing with his imagination, maybe winning.

Then reality pulled him back, and as he squinted into the darkness ahead, pushing his bike as far as it could go, Michael could swear that ahead of him, it looked like the small stretch of bright white and yellow sand was beginning to shrink. If he didn't do something soon, slow down…but there just wasn't enough time. With a shout, Michael turned as sharply as he could, bike skidding to it's side, digging the leg beneath it into the sand, scraping and ripping denim against metal as his wheels finally came to a stop on the very edge of a steep drop.

His heart hammered in his chest as he struggled to dislodge himself from his bike, climbing to his feet and scrambling to catch an eyeful of just exactly what he'd almost careened into...sharp rocks and crashing water, fingers of dark blackish-blue reaching out with foamy nails, beckoning him and his bike to what could have been a very nasty grave. With an angry shout, he spun about him, "show yourselves, mother fuckers!"

The night air filled with laughter before cutting off abruptly, leaving him in complete silence. Michael ran a shaking hand through his hair, straining to hear anything else. Another laugh. Engines. _Something_. But it was as if he'd been alone the entire time. His eyes drifted down to his bike, lying on it's side like a soldier slain in battle. He knelt down and hefted it up with a grunt.

And as he walked his bike back the way he'd come, working up the urge to ride it again, Michael wondered if he really had been imagining things. Or if maybe he'd come into contact with some of the many souls that probably saturated the soil around Santa Carla. Murder capitol of the world, right? Shit, now he was starting to act like his dorky brother. His mind was just playing tricks on him…

* * *

Paul sighed in disappointment, "no fish bait tonight…" he leaned over his bike handles and kicked his legs out to the side, brushing the tips of his shoes into the sand and sending it flying ahead of him.

David chuckled softly, "Passed the first test." He knew he would, "Gonna have to get him to come with us tomorrow night. See what else he can do." He grinned, wanted to savor this one.

There was something about him, something about this one that made him want to draw it out as long as possible. He didn't even know his name yet and he wanted to make it last. Maybe he could even manage to get him to drink from the vein. He hadn't filled up a bottle with his own blood yet.

Dwayne eyed their leader thoughtfully, looking out towards the edge of the bluff, "gonna follow the same rules we did? Max was pretty firm on that 'three day' bullshit. You want to change it up?"

"Yeah, I want to try this another way. Still gonna test him but I want to make him take it straight from the vein."

Marko cocked his head, biting at the thumb of his glove, " _like you did? Didn't that fuck with your head for the first like...twenty years?_ "

"Totally worth it." He paused, "Was more like thirty years but who's keeping track…"

"Guess Max paid for it in spades, anyway, huh?" Paul snickered, glancing back the way the brunette had gone. "Think we'll even see him tomorrow? This might've shaken him up pretty bad…"

"It's a good sign if we do. Means it didn't fuck with him too badly." Dwayne stated, looking that way as well, "I got a good feeling about him actually, might work out."

"Be a fun ride, even if it doesn't," Marko agreed, lowering his hand to his bike handle.

David nodded, "We're gonna have a blast with this one." He grinned darkly, looking the way he went.

* * *

Sam chilled out on his inner tube, flipping through the freaky comic those guys at the shop had given him. Only because he didn't have the cash to buy anything new and the stuff he didn't want to get wet had already been flipped through so many times, he didn't even had to read the speech balloons. Then a bunch of douchebags ran by, splashing water all over him and his comic, nearly flipping him over in the process.

Michael was on the beach nearby, setting an empty trash sack aside on the ground as he sat down to chill out on the shore, smirking over at him. "You alright, Sammy?"

Sam glared at them, trying to get the water off his comic, "Yeah, assholes!" He shouted after them, "I'm fine, just pissed." He grumbled, scowling down at the comic.

Shielding his face from the sun, Michael leaned forward, "you get that from the shitty store you went to last night? Thought you only had like...ten bucks, and you're already blowing it?"

"They gave it to me for free, some shit about vampires, they were a little weird, saying stuff like that it would save my life, makes no sense but it's something to read."

Michael rolled his eyes as he propped himself up on his elbows and just basked in the glow of the sun. "Vampires? Read a bit of it for me. Might be worth a laugh."

Sam rolled his eyes, "You can't let them fool you! Those...things...you're harboring, they are no good. Evil creatures, they smell of death! Their breath reeks of the grave and their nails, they're long, too long. I have seen the way they look at you. They would devour your soul, my son."

"So…" Michael trailed off, glancing back over at him, "they're cheap hookers? Gosh, maybe that piece of crap's worth reading, after all.."

He laughed, grinning, "Yeah, if vampires were real."

"Sam…" Michael lay back on the sand, clasping his hands behind his neck. He didn't look too comfortable without a towel beneath him, but Mike wasn't much for complaining. Neither of them were. Mom didn't need to deal with that on top of all the stress and worries she'd been handling the last few weeks, moving to a different state without a penny to her name not the least of them.

"Yeah?" He questioned, looking over at him.

"They're coming back," Michael nodded towards the water as a large group came hurdling through the waves, this time managing to flip him over as they passed. A string of curse words escaped Sam's lips, things Michael didn't even think he knew, "Mom would soap your mouth out for that."

* * *

David leaned against his bike, waiting for the brunette from the night before. He was curious what he would do, if David would have to approach him or if the teen would come to them. Would he be a cat or a mouse? He couldn't wait to find out. He had let the boys wander, not too far, but they were close enough. The night was filled with anticipation and promise. So much could happen, so many possibilities. He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the brunette while he waited, maybe they could find dinner while they were at it.

Something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye. His target was slipping out of a small clothing shop, while an older blonde woman seemed to be very appreciative of his choice. He was wearing a leather jacket. David's eyes followed him curiously as he paused by a jewelry stand, fingering his earlobe, before shaking his head and pulling away to wander through the crowds towards his bike. But then he got distracted by a pretty face, and paused to chat with her.

David drummed his fingers on the seat of his bike, it wouldn't be long before he would have to take matters into his own hands. At least he seemed interested in getting his ear pierced and the jacket did look good on him.

The girl leaned in close to the brunette, digging her hand into his jacket pocket with a piece of paper and smirking before she pulled away and rushed back through the crowd. He watched her go with a private little smirk, finally turning back towards his bike, parked not too far from the boys.

David watched him, trying to catch his eye at least, if he passed them he would go after him. This was the most excitement he'd had in a long time. Then...the brunette paused to chat with yet another fucking girl. Damn it. David wondered if maybe it might not have been a bad idea to have one with them as bait. At least it would keep his attention long enough.

" _Works fast,"_ Paul whistled, sidling up beside David and snickering. " _Alright, Davey, you got my vote."_

It was several more minutes before the brunette pulled away from the second girl, tucking his hands into his pockets and passing the boys, giving them a curious glance as he passed before drawing up to his own bike and hopping on.

David shoved his hands in his pockets and headed toward him, "New in town?" He questioned.

The kid nodded, looking over at their bikes before back to David, meeting his eyes head-on, fearless. Yeah, he definitely wasn't a fucking local. "Nice bikes."

"Thanks." He held out his hand, "David." He held his gaze. And his hand was met with a firm shake.

"Michael." He was guarded. Wary. Probably had an idea they might have had something to do with the little race in the dark last night. After all, there weren't any other bikers nearby, were there?

"Good to meet you, care to join us for the night?" He questioned, "Show you around."

The kid looked at David, taking him in. Sizing him up. Then his eyes trailed towards the others, who remained at their own bikes, appearing only mildly interested. He could have no idea just how intent they were on his response. After all, the devil can't come in unless he's _invited,_ can he? "Yeah, sure. Got nothing better to do," he shrugged. So very good at playing the bad boy, and at the same time so clearly naive. That much more appealing.

He grinned, "Good, we were gonna go for a ride." He mounted his own bike, " _Let's go boys."_ His smile grew, "I'm sure you can keep up, won't be going too far, food and drinks sound good to you?"

* * *

Michael climbed off of his bike, glancing around curiously at the gates, "you guys _live_ here?" He spotted a few precautionary markers as they passed. From what he could tell, they were heading towards some kind of cave. If he were more poetic, he might have likened it to the gates of hell itself.

David spread his arms wide, "Welcome to our sunken hotel."

He took in the sight as they stepped through the entrance, eyes roaming over the room, lingering here and there on a portrait of Jim Morrison, a fountain with an old chandelier poking out where streams of water should be. It was a disaster, maybe even a tragedy, frozen in time under layers of dust and dirt. Michael remained silent, as David continued to talk, training his eyes on the him curiously. This place had to have a story.

"When the big quake hit, this place took a header into the crack. We've been here for...quite awhile now. What do you think?" He settled into his usual place, the old wheelchair sitting like a throne for him. He glanced at Marko, "Go get us some food," He paused, "and something to drink."

Michael watched the small guy hop out, before glancing back over at David and the others, "nice place," he remarked softly, not really sure what else he should say. 'Smells like death'? 'How do you get mail out here?'

"How long have you guys been...staying here?" He asked, sitting down at the edge of the fountain and leaning back. Creepy...but he supposed there was a sort of comfortable air about it. If you were Dracula.

Paul grinned, "Seems like forever, doesn't it?" He pulled out a joint, "Want some?"

Michael gave a sardonic half-smirk, holding out his hand to take the joint. When in Rome, he supposed, remaining silent. So far, these guys were alright. Maybe a little creepy, if you read too much into it, but they had nice bikes. Couldn't be _that_ bad. David grinned at him, watching as he took it.

"Ahh, Marko's back! Fastest run yet, little man." Paul grinned, "What'd you bring us?"

"Chinese."

David smirked, "Chinese, good choice." The smaller biker pulled out a few bottles of beer and shifted his jacket to reveal a large pocket beneath holding a half handle of jack.

"Something special for the occasion, huh?" Marko grinned, laying the platter of boxes out beside David and yanking out the liquor, ceremoniously holding it out to the blonde. Adding a flourishing wave of his hand for the final touch.

"Even better." He took it, unscrewing the top and taking a slow drink before offering it to their guest, "Michael."

Michael eyed the bottle, before slowly reaching over to take it. Hell, it was still summer. Might as well have a bit of fun, right? He unscrewed the bottle and took a gulp. Better with coke, but he'd make do. "Thanks," he said softly, lowering the bottle and handing it out for one of the others to take. Dwayne stood up from the couch and strode over to grab it, before pausing and pushing it back into Michael's grasp.

"Take what you want," he remarked, walking back over to the couch as he snatched up a take-out container beside David and flopped down into his seat.

"Uh...thanks…" Michael looked at the bottle of Jack still in his outstretched hand, and pulled it back, taking a few more gulps. Didn't taste great, but he'd be getting a buzz pretty soon. These guys were alright. He'd definitely been wrong, first impression. Could definitely see himself swinging by later. Not like there was anyone else to hang out with, anyway.

David leaned back, grabbing a carton of chinese. Opening it to see what it was, "Rice?" He picked up another one, "Or noodles?"

Michael looked at him thoughtfully, shrugging as he took another swig. Didn't much matter, did it? He wasn't even that hungry. Plus...as fast as that guy had come back with the food...he was almost convinced they were just fucking with him. Shit had probably been sitting out for like a week. "Rice, I guess." He reached his hand out to take the food from him.

David handed it over, taking a bite of noodles before motioning with his chopsticks to the bottle of jack, "Drink up, Michael."

"You guys are alright," Michael mused as he took another swig. Still tasted like shit, but he was already beginning to feel a pleasant buzz. He didn't drink too often, so it would hit hard and fast. But at least he had rice to soak up half of the hangover he'd probably have in the morning. "How long you been here, anyway?"

Paul cackled nearby, slapping his knee as he shoved a mouthful of rice into his face, shaking his head. Dwayne and Marko exchanged a smirk, eating their food a little slower while they looked back towards David.

David chuckled softly, "Long time, very long time, feels like forever sometimes, doesn't it boys? Had some relatives that actually lived in the hotel before it took a dive."

"That's...pretty long…" Michael replied, slowly taking another bite. It was bland, a meal of jack and rice...but not the worst meal he'd ever had. Better than an afternoon with mom back before the divorce, when the lights would go out and they'd panic about clearing out the fridge. Nothing worse than figuring out a way to combine milk with butter and bologna before they went bad.

"We haven't seen you around, take it you just moved in, haven't gotten a good lay of the land yet." David paused, "We can help you there, show you around."

Marko grinned, "We've got this great place we'll have to show you one night, it's awesome."He gnawed on the thumb of his glove.

"Would you stop that? You're gonna chew a hole in it like you did the last pair." Dwayne rolled his eyes.

Michael yawned, closing his eyes and beginning to bask in the glow of the liquor, "yeah? Sounds fun…" Maybe it was just the Jack talking, but he definitely had a good feeling about these guys, now. Yeah, they weren't the ones who'd fucked with him last night. No way in hell.

* * *

David glanced at the others, " _So, what do you think?"_

" _He's pretty and dumb,"_ Dwayne gave him his two cents, glancing over at Michael as the kid set the bottle of Jack down and took a bite of rice. Already a little woozy. Definitely a light-weight.

" _Nah, not dumb, just a little dense, bet he's actually smart."_ Marko grinned, " _Doesn't drink much though, so yeah, lightweight, we'll fix that though."_

" _I like him,"_ Paul mused. " _Agree with Dwayne, though. Pretty and dumb. Maybe even dumber than me."_ He paused. " _Fuck...just called myself dumb, didn't I?"_ He took a hit of his joint, relaxing and letting the smoke rise before he scooped up a bite of rice.

" _Well, you are an idiot."_ David stated, grinning as he watched Michael, " _Definitely prettier than you."_

"Did you really want your ear pierced? Saw you looking the other night, we can do it for you, avoid the stupid cash scam." This would be a nice easy way to mark him as theirs before he even got his blood in him. An insurance policy.

"Uh…" Michael squinted, "does it hurt?" He looked down at the bottle of jack thoughtfully, "eh...probably had enough now anyway. Yeah, sure."

David grinned, he had just the earring for it too, was saving it for a special occasion, "Tip your head." He said, holding the earring in place, once he did he shoved it through, made it quick and with the jack in his system he didn't feel much of anything, "All done."

Michael looked at the others, setting his half-empty container of rice aside, and reaching up to rub at his ear as he pulled back from David, "think I drank too much," he rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, "might need to sleep it off for a couple hours."

"I'll make sure you get home, how about that? Just tell me where you live and we'll get you and your bike home safe and sound." David stated, chuckling softly, loving this drunk, kind of docile, Michael. So much less defensive than he'd been when they officially met, or when he'd been racing towards his near-death on the bluff.

"Sounds good," Michael yawned, lazily reaching over to seal the lid on the bottle of Jack. He'd be the perfect meal right now. Complacent. Isolated in their little haven. But no, this one was special, it would be fun to groom him, to make him one of them.

"Finish that up and we'll head out." He paused, "Just relax." He chuckled softly, " _We'll take care of everything from here on out."_

"My mom is gonna be pretty pissed tomorrow," Michael remarked quietly as he undid the cap on the Jack again, a cascade of drunken thoughts rushing to the foreground in his mind, not the least of which a resolution to find a real job and avoid having any future nights like this, as fun as it was. But before long, he wouldn't have to worry about shit like that. Not with the plans David had in mind. Death or otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before his life changed forever.


	2. First Taste

Michael groaned as he set his weights down, slumping to the ground as he ran his hands through his hair. He looked like shit. He felt like shit. Mom was sitting in the kitchen sorting through the newspaper, circling job ads...at least she didn't have to see him like this. But damn, at least he'd had fun last night. For once. It was nice to act his age.

"Mike! Hey! Mike!" Sam's shouting did nothing for his head, "Where are you?"

"Fuck, Sammy. I'm just lifting weights!" Michael ground out, shoving his sunglasses up on his nose and turning towards his brother as he came out to the wraparound porch. "Don't yell so loud, huh?"

"Where'd you run off to last night?" He grumbled, coming out to sit with him, "What'd you do?"

Michael shrugged, "don't remember much. Hung out. Ate rice. Probably gonna do it again tonight, if there's nothing better to do. What about you?" He leaned up against the side of the house, relaxing somewhat and trying not to open his eyes. He'd had way too much to drink last night. Enough to drown a horse.

He pulled out his comic, "Reading this," he cleared his throat, "Frederick, your brother is one of them now. Look at how he shies from the cross. How he shields his eyes from the sun." He paused, "Hey, you becoming a vampire, Mike? Wearing sunglasses."

Michael lowered his sunglasses and hissed at him, causing his brother to jump back before he laughed and pushed them back up the bridge of his nose, "seriously, Sam? Lay off the comics for awhile." He stood up, stretching, "they're frying your brain."

"Take me to the comic book shop tonight." He whined, "Since you ditched me."

Rolling his eyes, Michael laughed as he pulled open the screen door, "sure, dork. But you're finding your own ride home. Better hope mom doesn't get pissed off you're spending your piggy bank money on gay superheroes in red underwear again."

"Hey, don't knock Superman, he's awesome."

"I'm sure Batman feels the same way…" Michael drawled, slamming the door behind him. He flinched at the sound, but kept walking until he got to the kitchen to fill himself a glass of water.

* * *

Marko kicked a rock, watching it bounce across the ground, "Nice night." He broke the silence as the others dismounted their bikes.

"Yeah?" Michael closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Hair of the dog...whole coat of the dog. He'd had way too much to drink tonight, _again,_ "what's going on?"

David grinned, "I dunno, what's going on, Paul?" He started walking, expecting the others to follow.

"Wait…" Paul blinked, "who wants to know?"

"Michael wants to know!" Marko called back, bouncing.

David chuckled softly, stepped onto the tracks, "Right on time." He motioned to the others, " _Ladies first."_

"Yeah," Paul remarked, grinning towards Marko as he approached the edge of the bridge they'd been walking on. Michael looked about at the group, a little confused, while David threw an arm around his shoulders.

Marko watched them silently, grinning as he waved his fingers, "goodnight Michael," he took another step and dove from the bridge, shouting, "bombs away!"

"Tonight you become a man!" David teased as Paul dropped down to hang off the bridge. Dwayne soon followed, silent, shooting David and Michael a set of finger pistols as he went.

Michael watched them all, a little taken aback, almost sobered. He didn't know what to make of it. " _...the fuck?_ " He thought, glancing over at David, who was close enough right now for them to touch noses.

David grinned, "Come with us, Michael." He stated, dropping down, letting him see that they were all hanging from the trestle.

"Come on, Mikey!" Paul shouted up at him, kicking at Marko.

"Careful, asshole!" Marko kicked back.

David swung himself, "Join us, Michael!"

Kneeling down, Michael watched them all, growing a little more nervous as he gripped at the metal beneath him. This was crazy. This was dangerous. These guys were insane...but...they looked so confident. They'd probably pulled this shit a million times. He had a choice right now: face his logical side and tell them all to fuck off for the nutjobs they clearly were, or just go with the flow and drop down. If he'd had maybe a little less liquor tonight, he would've gone with the first choice. But...he didn't. It took him about five seconds to decide before he found himself climbing down to hang along beside them, grunting as the metal bars dug into his fingers.

"Welcome aboard, _Michael!_ " Paul taunted, grinning and bobbing his head as he swung beside Marko, kicking a leg out to nudge at the smaller one.

Michael narrowed his eyes, staring ahead at David, who hung right in front of him, grinning. Already, he was regretting this. What had he been _thinking_?!

Then, the worst thing he could have imagined happened. A loud roaring pierced his ears, a horn, lights illuminating the bridge above them as a train began to rattle above. There was no way in hell he'd be able to hold on long enough for it to pass. His eyes widened in terror, sobering him even more as they met David's. But the others? They were _laughing!_ They sounded just like the phantoms who'd nearly killed him a couple of nights ago…

" _ **DAVID!**_ " He shouted, hair whipping about him, blue eyes wide with terror, unable to think of anything else as he desperately held on for dear life. His fingers had already gone numb. He had no idea whether he'd outlast the train or not.

* * *

David grinned, this was turning out better than he could have imagined. The others dropped off one by one into the fog, laughing and shouting while David stayed hanging with Michael.

"Let go, Michael! Join us!"

"And do what?!" Michael shouted back, fingers beginning to slip.

David's grin widened, "Let go!" He swung with one arm before completely letting go and dropping to fly with the the others. Michael would let go, he had to, "Join us!" He shouted, ready to catch him.

"Come on Mikey! Let go!" Marko was grinning, punching Paul in the arm.

"Let go!" Dwayne joined in with his brothers, grinning through the fog up at the human who clung so desperately to his safety net.

Michael peered down, clearly unable to see them. Even as the train passed, he still managed to hold on. Tried to lift himself up.

" _Think he'll pull it off?"_ Marko wondered, smirking. If he managed to climb up, he was fair game for a meal.

" _Nope, he'll drop."_ David stated calmly, "Let go!" He ordered, just as he would one of the boys. The kid gave a valiant effort too, trying to defy his orders. But he just didn't have the strength left...eventually, his fingers slipped. And he was plunging into the fog.

" _Be a lot easier if you gave him some blood,"_ Dwayne remarked, crossing his arms as Michael sailed past him.

David caught him grinning, "Got ya." Michael barely had time to register what had happened before he passed out in David's arms. So very fragile, in his human state. He was lucky David had already decided he'd be more than just a meal. Otherwise, he'd be long dead by now.

The bleach blonde grinned down at him, " _Maybe you're right."_ It would be a lot easier if he gave him his blood. Michael had come to them, had returned, had jumped from the bridge, he let go. Maybe it was time to give him his blood. He reached up and stroked his hair back from his face, "Michael…" He called softly, his voice barely a whisper, "Hey, want to learn about forever?" He mused, smiling, tipping his head back to look up through the fog, "A long time ago there was a punk kid, we're talking a couple hundred years or so, but who's counting? His name was David and he learned first hand what exactly forever really meant. He met this guy and he decided that David was perfect, that he deserved this gift. Well, David fought it at first before he finally realized that, hey, forever, not that bad." He bit into his wrist, "Forever is a long time but it's worth it, party all night, live forever and you get to taste the greatest thing in the world." He held the wound to his lips, "Better than wine, better than whiskey, better than anything you've ever tasted before." His smile grew, "Drink up and welcome to eternity."

Of course, Michael hadn't really heard a word he said. That was the thing about being unconscious. But still, he'd said it...and that was certainly a start. Bloody flesh met Michael's lips, and the human in his arms swallowed by reflex, still insensate to what was happening, until a good mouthful had spilled past gums and teeth. His eyes fluttered open, though the fog around him was still too thick to see, and the liquor playing with his head too heavy to think. But he drank. One swallow turned into another, until a hand came up to press David's wrist to his mouth, while he still remained blind to the world about him, or the man holding him in his arms. The flavor would be too incredible, the high from his first taste too strong to allow him to think...even if he was sober.

"There you go, tastes good, doesn't it?" He didn't expect a response but just talking him through it felt good. It hadn't been done for him after all, his maker had been an asshole, "Take as much as you want, I got plenty to spare." He could find more food, that was the easy part, "I'll give you everything you could ever want. You'll enjoy being one of us, I promise."

Hazy blue eyes opened to meet David's own, confused, and possibly a little angry, before the bleeding from his wrist slowed to a trickle, and Michael passed out again in his arms.

" _Alright boys, let's get sleeping beauty home."_ He took off, taking the new halfling back to his human family's home.

* * *

Lucy sighed as she removed her reading glasses and set her newspaper aside, glancing across the table at her youngest, "Sam, will you go check on Michael? It's almost three, and he's still asleep...I'm worried about him. I don't want to cancel my interview, but I will if there's something wrong." She paused, "Sam...what are you reading? That looks like a horror comic...sweety, you know how you get when you read scary stories…"

He closed the comic, "We'll be fine." He rolled his eyes, "Go to your interview, I'll make sure Mike isn't lazy." He grinned, had a couple ideas to take out on his brother, "Don't worry about us." He headed up the stairs, "Mike! Oh, Miiiiiike!"

Upstairs, Michael lounged on his bed, dead to the world. Still wearing the same thing he'd stumbled back to the house wearing. Even his shoes and jacket. He grumbled when Sam called out to him, shoving a pillow over his face.

The blonde teen made his way over to his feet, slowly untying his shoes, making sure he was still asleep as he worked, before tying the laces together. Moving as quietly as he could he crawled onto the bed, reaching over his brother to grab his pillow before hitting him with it as hard as he could, scrambling back at the same time to avoid his wrath.

"Sam!" Michael shouted grumpily, seizing forward in his bed and trying to leap off the edge, only to stumble to the ground and yelp as he face-planted. He pushed himself back up onto his knees and glared up at his little brother, "oh, you are going to _get it!"_ Michael kicked off his shoes and climbed to his feet, diving for him, snatching Sam by the back of the shirt just as he tried to make a break for it.

Sam yelped, squirming in his grasp, "Lemme go! Lazy bastard! You've been sleeping all day!"

"It's summer," Michael retorted, pulling his little brother into a headlock with a dry chuckle as he bore his knuckles down onto his head and began to viciously assault him with a powerful noogy, "beg for it, dork. Beg for mommy." He was still tired, very grumpy, but it wasn't like Sam hadn't pulled shit like this on him before.

"Mom has an interview!" He squirmed again, whining, "Miiiike, lemme go! Please!"

He paused thoughtfully, then shook his head, continuing to grind his knuckles into Sam's head, "what do I get if I stop, huh? Gonna wax my bike?"

He whined again, "Yeah, I'll wax your stupid bike just let go!"

"Hmmmmm…" Michael hummed dramatically. "Choices…"

He squirmed harder in response, "Pleeeease Mike, please let me go." He whimpered softly, pushing at him.

Michael finally released him, blowing on his knuckles and rubbing them off on his shirt with a grin, "I think you're getting a bald spot up there, Sammy."

"I wouldn't be if you would stop giving me stupid noogies." He rubbed his head, glaring at him, "At least you're up now so mom can stop whining."

Yawning, Michael squinted when he glanced towards the window, then strode towards his bedside stand and scooped up a pair of sunglasses, shoving them on his face with his index finger and thumb pinching at the bridge, nails a little longer and sharper than they probably should be, "had a crazy fucking dream last night. Think it's 'cause of that dumb comic you're reading," he remarked as he scratched the back of his head.

Sam scowled, "What kind of dream? What happened in it?" He looked him over, "You look okay."

Michael reached forward and ruffled his little brother's hair as he walked past him and towards his bedroom door, "fell off a bridge...jumped off it. I dunno. Drank blood...or had a serious make-out session with this biker guy's wrist. I think I'm gonna lay off the long nights for awhile. So don't worry, dork, probably not gonna sleep in my clothes again tonight…"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Umm, good." He scowled, "Wait, blood? Dude! Not cool!" He ran after him, "You're gross."

"It was a dream, you little weasel!" Michael snapped, heading towards the bathroom and closing the door softly behind him. The sound of a shower running drowned out anything else he might have said afterwards.

"Mike, take me to the comic shop tonight." He leaned against the door, waiting for a response.

"Again?! Aren't you broke yet?" Michael called out from the other side.

"Nope, got my allowance today! Take me!"

"Allowance for what? Kissing grandpa's ass? Old man can't even afford a tv…"

"So what if he likes me better than you, take me to the comic shop tonight! You don't even have to stay, just drop me off." He pressed his ear against the door, hoping his brother wasn't going to be an ass about it.

There was a tense moment of silence. And then, just when Sam was about to ask him again, a sharp scream pierced the air, as Michael stumbled out of the bathroom, nearly shoving him to the ground as he gripped a towel about his waist, beet-red and dripping with water. "FUCK!"

"Michael?" Lucy called from downstairs, "watch your mouth!"

Michael ran shaking hands through his hair, glancing at Sam, "water heater's broken or something…"

"Damn, you got burned bad!" He paused, looking up at him, "So, comic shop?"

The older Emerson just rolled his eyes as he stalked back into the bathroom to scoop up his clothes. "Yeah, whatever. After I take a bath."

Sam grinned, "Yeah, sure, see you in like an hour!" He pumped his fist happily, Sam 1, Michael 0.


	3. Raising the Stake

"How are you going to get home if mom's not here to drive you?" Michael walked beside his brother into the comic shop, glancing around curiously. The place smelled like stale books and frito chips. A colorful printed heaven for the king of geeks.

"Don't worry, I'll get home." He grinned, looking around, "Or you could always take me home."

He rolled his eyes, glancing over at two very stern-looking Rambo fans on the other side of the store, glaring at them through a comic wrack, "you know those guys?" The kids looked like they had some serious issues.

"Kind of, Edgar and Alan Frog." He lowered his voice, "They claim to be vampire hunters but I think it's just a game."

Michael slowly quirked an eyebrow, "right. Okay, then. Glad you're making friends with the local nutcases. That's always a good sign." His eyes trailed over to a few comics on display nearby, _more_ vampire comics. "Sam...I'm worried about you. You seriously need to find a chick…this place isn't healthy."

"More soldiers for the cause?" One of the boys approached them, nearly jumping out and stumbling into Sam. The one with the long hair. "Or...another civilian?" He ran a judgmental eye over Michael's attire. Jeans and a sweater. A lot more 'normal' than the weird camo pants and ripped t-shirt look he was going for.

"Oooookay…" Michael pulled down his sunglasses and leveled Sam with a concerned look, "find a payphone and call gramps if you need to, alright?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'll do that, go do, I dunno, stupid jock stuff."

Smirking, Michael turned around to leave, only to find himself facing the other weirdo from the planet dork, "Sam...call your geek squad off, will ya?"

The other kid raised his upper lip in a threatening sneer as Michael shoved past him and strode from the building...with absolutely no plans of coming back for another visit.

"That guy...had death breath," Michael's assailant remarked, scowling after him.

"Tell me about it," Sam rolled his eyes, then caught himself, "hey, that's my brother, only I get to make fun of him!"

"Not safe to wander around out there without protection," Edgar grunted, scratching at his chin.

Sam wrinkled his nose, "dude...gross! I don't need to think about-" And then Edgar pulled out a cross, passing it over to Sam. "Give that to your brother."

* * *

Michael stopped by a burger shack to watch the sunset, grabbing himself a grease-laden meal to settle his stomach before heading home. As luck would have it, the girl who'd given him her number just so happened to be there, too. Snacking on a child's order of fries and pecking at them like a bird as she watched him approach her table, just at the edge of the patio overlooking the beach.

"Hey," Michael greeted with a half-smirk as he sat down in front of her with his meal.

She smiled at him, "Hey, Michael, right?" She pointed a fry at him. She seemed fun. Probably wouldn't lead to a hangover, either.

"Yeah. And...you're…" He trailed off, squinting as he tried to recall. Had she even told him her name, he wondered? His eyes skimmed over her appreciatively, lingering momentarily on her chest before slowly trailing up to her neck. "...Mina?"

She flashed him a brilliant smile, "Yep! You remembered!" She slowly dipped the fry in ketchup, "Sooo, what're you doing tonight?"

"Was thinking about heading home…" He paused, glancing back in the direction of his bike and towards her, licking his bottom lip absently. "Probably have the place to myself for awhile…" His eyes somehow managed to find themselves locked on her neck again. He wasn't sure why...but he swore he could see the thrum of her pulse causing the skin to twitch there just slightly. Oddly enough, he had the urge to kiss that spot...man, he really needed to get laid.

She smiled, licking her lips slowly, "Want me to...come with you? We could have some fun."

The sun had finally set when Michael nodded, reaching up to brush his curls back away from his ear, the glittering jewelry catching the light from the burger shack just right, causing it to sparkle in her line of vision. Her flirtatious smile quickly melted into a nervous frown. "...Something wrong?" Michael took a bite out of his burger as he drew his eyes away from her neck.

"N-No...Umm, where'd you get the earring?"

"This?" Michael reached up to flick at the trinket in his ear, "hung out with some biker guys a few times. Got drunk and decided to act stupid, I guess. Why? You want one?"

She licked her lips nervously, "No, no thank you." She glanced around, her eyes widening when she saw said bikers walking their way, "I'll talk to you later, okay?" She got to her feet and ran off, flagging down another girl before finally stopping to talk to her.

Michael leaned back, setting his burger down with a scowl, wondering what the fuck that had been about. When the girls both pointed at him and then waved her hand in another direction, before rushing away away, he wondered if maybe one of them had a thing going with those guys at some point...shit, of all the rotten luck. He picked his burger back up and made himself take another bite. Frankly, he wasn't even that hungry right now.

"Michael! How're you doing tonight?" David asked, taking a seat beside him.

Lowering his burger, the brunette squinted at him warily, "you do something to that chick, David?" He nodded towards her as she disappeared around the side of a clothing shop.

He glanced after her, "I didn't, maybe Paul did, he takes out half the available women around here, been trying to get him to stop but it's hard."

"Hey, I can't help if I eat them up," Paul defended himself as he leaned against the railing beside them, settling himself between Marko and Dwayne.

"Big bad wolf over here," Dwayne rolled his eyes.

Michael wrapped up his burger and pushed it aside, eyes roaming over them all thoughtfully. They were alright, but if they were going to be a roving group of cockblockers, he could probably do without them for a few days. "Look, I'm probably heading home soon," Michael shrugged. "But it's...I guess it's cool I ran into you?" He didn't know what else to say as he stood up from the table and wiped a hand on his jeans. A third hangover in one week was more than he wanted to deal with. And he had a feeling, with these guys, he'd pretty much have a constant one before too long.

* * *

That was just not going to work for them, "Come on, Michael, we won't even drink tonight." David smirked, "We can just have a nice, relaxing, night. No pressure, no drinking, no drugs." The more time he spent with him the easier it would be in the long run, "We already have a few girls coming with us, there's enough for you too."

"Well…" The brunette trailed off, scratching his head, "alright, sure. Guess I don't have anything better to do. But I probably won't be staying over too long. A guy could get himself killed partying with you guys." He smirked.

The blood working through him would work a lot better and faster the more time he spent around David. Sooner or later Michael wouldn't be able to leave, would be drawn to them, and that's when Michael would be theirs forever.

David chuckled, "Even we have to take a break every now and then." Even with David's blood in him, it was probably a good idea he didn't hang out overnight anyway. It was a little too early for him to see them chowing down or hanging from the ceiling...didn't want to scare the kid away, after all but they'd get there sooner or later, "Shall we head out?" He motioned toward their bikes where the girls were waiting.

"Yeah, sure," Michael shrugged. "Not getting any younger, I guess."

* * *

There was a loud creaking noise on the stairs, jerking Sam out of his sleep. Then the sound of heavy footsteps in that lumbering way Mike had. The shadow of Mike's feet lingered at the bottom of his bedroom door, through the shine of the hall light. Nanook sat up and whined pitifully, nudging closer to Sam's legs. The fingers of one hand curled into his fur while the other grabbed the vampire comic off his night stand. He thought about calling out to him, asking him why he was standing there, but what if it wasn't Michael? What if it was something else? A sigh of relief escaped his lips as whoever it was finally walked away, must have been Mike. He clicked on his flashlight and looked down at the comic.

"Your brother, Abigail, he's showing signs of the corruption. How often has he been returning home in the night? How often has he shunned the morning in favor of the darkness? He is corrupted, my child, he must be cleansed." Sam took a deep breath and clicked the flashlight off. He really had to stop reading this shit before bedtime. He laughed at himself, tossing the comic aside and snuggling down under his covers. Mike was an asshole sometimes, and yeah, maybe he'd apparently stopped brushing his teeth, and sure...his nails could use a trim...he slept a lot, too…Sam frowned, shaking his head. Vampires didn't exist. Mike was fine. Just a little dumb. Nothing new there.

* * *

Michael had been acting a bit funny the past few days. Wasn't staying out to ungodly hours like he'd been doing the first couple of nights, but was sleeping just as late. Acting moody. Constantly looking over his shoulder as if he was being watched...Yeah, there were more than a few signs he'd done something stupid, and grandpa Emerson had a good idea what that stupid thing was, too. The only way to know for sure was to get the answer directly from the source. He already had his workshop set up, a bright light for the ambiance, the right place to interrogate his grandson. The stuffed animals were all pointed at the folding chair he had pulled out, he just had to get his guest of honor to take a seat.

"Michael, come in, have a sit down. We need to talk about something." He stated firmly, waiting for his grandson to sit, "What have you been up to the past few nights?"

Michael scowled over at him as he sat down, crossing his arms, "haven't gone out in two days, grandpa. Been staying here. Why? I'm not doing anything wrong." He was already on the defensive, and probably didn't even realize it.

He narrowed his eyes, "You know what I mean, boy. Before you started staying home. You were out all night, didn't get back until who knows when. Where've you been going and with who?"

"I dunno," Michael shrugged, "met some bikers. They're alright. Yeah, maybe I had a little too much to drink, but it's not like I did anything crazy. Okay...maybe I got my ear pierced...I'm not thirteen, grandpa, why is it such a big deal?"

He shook his head, "Anything strange happen? Any urges?"

Michael grimaced, gagging a little, "dude! I'm not like that! Sam's the one with the fucking Rob Lowe pin-up, not me! Seriously, grandpa, I even tried to bring a gir-" He paused, continuing slowly, "don't tell mom I said that. She doesn't need to know..." He was so seemingly oblivious to what the old man was getting at, it was like talking to a brick wall.

He reached over onto his desk, grabbing something small around round, "If what I suspect is true, you're turning into one of them, a vampire." He stated, might as well get this over with. The 'are you insane' look Michael was giving him was beginning to grate on his nerves.

"Grandpa...I think you need to take a vacation from the bunny skin stripping. You're starting to scare me."

He held up the object, a small hand mirror, "Look." He stated, eyes locked on his grandson, "What do you see?"

Michael leaned forward with a quizzical look, glancing up at the old man and then back at the mirror in his hands, frowning. "It's…" he trailed off, reaching out to touch the glass. "That's a good trick," he decided, pulling back and shaking his head in denial. "You really had me going. Did you get that from Sam?"

He sighed, "I can't force you to believe, go check another mirror if you don't believe me." He paused, looking thoughtful, "What about running water? Looked at a cross lately? You haven't made your first kill, only thing to do is kill the one that infected you. You do that and everything goes back to normal."

"So, the water heater's broken, I don't-" Michael drew his lips back in a snarl and he leapt up from the chair, shoving it back, when the old man pulled out his rosary and slammed it on the table in front of him. Then he straightened up, the truth finally seeming to make it through his stubborn head. "...Shit…" He took a step back, nervously staring down at the rosary on the table.

"That ain't normal, son. What're you gonna do about it? I don't know much more than I already told ya, up to you what you want to do now."

Michael took a deep breath, yawning as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, "so...how...how do I kill whoever it is?"

"Stake through the heart is the best way, most sure way." He stated, digging through his boxes, pulling out a wooden stake.

"...and what happens if I don't? There's no other way?" Michael asked, averting his eyes from the table, clearly still uncomfortable with the rosary sitting out in front of him like that.

He met his gaze, holding it, "We'd better hope you do because if you don't, you'll be like them and may god have mercy on your soul."

* * *

This was insane. He was half-awake, driving to a cave to find and kill some guy he barely knew because...what, he was a vampire? Michael would have turned back right then and there if he hadn't seen that rosary. Nothing else could explain why he'd felt so angry as the old man slammed it on the table, like he was being attacked. Even the mirror was convincing enough to freak him out, if he was being honest with himself. But...if they were wrong...he was about to commit murder!

Michael parked his bike outside and slipped into the hotel lobby, half-expectin to see them all passed out, or just sitting there, waiting for him. Funny, that. Even though they weren't _there,_ he had a strange feeling. He just _knew_ they were somewhere nearby. That should really bother him, but it didn't.

"David?" He called out, squinting in the darkness of the lobby, half-expecting an answer. Michael sighed when he was met with silence, drumming the stake thoughtfully against his thigh as he tried to decide what he was going to do next. Whether he was fully convinced about this or not, he still felt like an idiot.

Okay. Five minutes. He'd explore for five minutes, and if he didn't find a bunch of coffins or dead bodies, then this was all an elaborate bullshit prank the old man was pulling on him. He was fucking tired, and now he was in a bad mood on top of it as he made his way out of the lobby. He felt like his feet had minds of their own, as he stumbled about, no clue how long it had been before he found himself making his way down a cramped passage. Definitely longer than five minutes.

He should have brought sam along. Or those chuckle-heads from his dumb little hangout spot. At least they could have an 'adventure' while he took a nap. The longer he wondered, the dumber he felt...until he found himself coming into a small, cramped chamber.

Michael yawned, swatting at several flies that buzzed about him. Dead end. Nothing here but some scraps, a shit-load of dirt, and...his eyes slowly trailed upwards, and he felt his heart do a triple somersault into his throat.

"Holy fuck…" He hissed, slamming his back into the wall and slowly sliding down as he locked eyes on them. All of them. Hanging upside down like bats and dead to the world. That night on the bridge hadn't been a drunken nightmare. David (the spiky-haired son of a bitch), had actually gotten him to drink... _blood_.

Michael took a deep breath, steeling himself. This was _insane._ On shaking legs, he forced himself to cross the enclosure and climb up on some broken railing, or whatever it was, hefting the stake in his grasp. It was a good thing he hadn't brought Sam after all. The idea of his little brother getting himself killed made Michael uneasy. But, what's more, when he was face-to-face with David and ready to deal the deathblow…

He mentally cursed and lowered the stake. He couldn't do it. He needed to, and he knew that, but he couldn't! Just trying to force his hand to press the sharpened tip against David's chest made him feel guilty. No, maybe not that. Something else...agitated? Definitely scared out of his fucking mind. It was like...he was trying to stake _Sam_.

Michael stared hard at the blonde, who for whatever reason had decided to single him out and play a sick game with him. With a sigh of frustration, he climbed back down and tucked the stake into his jacket. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't do it. He'd have to talk to the old man, or even...no, knowing what kind of shit he was in right now, he didn't want his brother to get hurt. There just had to be some other way. Grandpa wasn't some kind of god. He didn't have all the fucking answers.

A few minutes, or maybe several passed, when he found himself stumbling into the lobby. He was spent. Exhausted. He only meant to rest his eyes when he slumped down on the couch. He really underestimated just how tired he was.


	4. Can't Run

David knew the moment Michael stepped into the old hotel that he wouldn't be leaving. He also knew exactly why he had come. Of course he wouldn't be able to do it, he was already intrinsically bound to the pack. That meant Michael knew, someone had gone and spilled the beans about the reality of Santa Carla. It was bound to happen sooner or later but he had hoped that it would be later.

The halfling was still asleep, would be for an hour or so longer unless something or someone woke him up. Perhaps it was better this way, that Michael knew the truth, it wasn't like he could escape it and when the hunger hit, man, he couldn't wait to see what would happen, what he would do. The best thing would be if Michael came crawling to him for answers, for blood, the anticipation practically made him giddy.

He stretched, letting go of his perch and landing silently on the ground. He tugged his socks and boots on before strolling into the lobby. Michael was sleeping on the couch, dead to the world. He settled into his chair and watched, waiting for the brunette to wake up. Hopefully the other boys wouldn't come in and make a ruckus, he wanted Michael to wake up on his own and see David sitting there.

Michael's eyes snapped open, darting quickly about the room before they landed on David. Slowly, he sat up. And it was quite clear the amount of fear behind his eyes was enough to make him reconsider why he hadn't finished what he'd started when he came by that afternoon. But he somehow managed to quell it, licking his bottom lip as he shifted and pulled himself into a sitting position, hands pressed to the cushions in preparation to make a break for it if he had to. "David," Michael rasped, lowering his eyebrows. He might as well have screamed his name, for all the good it would do, because what he was about to ask was like something fruitlessly shouted into the eye of a storm, "take it back."

David chuckled softly, "It doesn't work that way, there's no magic wand, I can't snap my fingers and 'take it back'. You're one of us," he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. In some ways this was the reaction he had been hoping for, "and nothing is going to change that."

Michael reached up towards his earring, "you've got me pegged wrong. I'm not one of you. I've got a family, and I don't want to eat people. That's what you do, isn't it? I can't even eat a burger unless it's pretty much black. I don't think I'd work out."

David knew, really knew, what Michael's reality was now, "You've got a killer's instinct." He held out his arm, rolled up his sleeve and slit into his wrist, "It's not all we do, there's so much more to us than just eating people." The moment the scent of his blood rose into the air, Michael's pupils dilated. And David could hear his heart hammering in his chest like a hummingbird's, "Forever. That's what this is, it's forever. You'll never grow old, never die, and we will take you higher than you ever thought possible."

Slowly, Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He'd only had a taste, and the couple of days they'd decided to give him to seek them out again had done nothing but let it build inside him. Oh, it would be so very easy to draw the killer out right now, kicking and screaming. But...they had all the time in the world because the moment the blood had hit his tongue the first time he was locked in, he'd stopped aging, would be this version of Michael forever and David wanted to enjoy it.

"Thanks Morrison, but I think I'll pass, so you can light someone else's fucking fire," Michael replied coolly, forcing himself to stand up and walk towards the lobby exit. The rest of the boys had made their silent entry, drawing quietly up alongside the wall, and nesting in the dancing shadows while they waited for a word from David.

David shook his head, "Michael…" his voice was low as he narrowed his eyes after him, "Come and take a drink." It was an order even if it was wrapped up the the appearance of a choice. He was still bleeding, the blood falling to the floor in fat drops. Michael paused mid-step, shoulders tensing up while he kept his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. Slowly, he turned his head back to glare at David, eyes gold and defiant, before he flipped him the bird and kept walking, "Dwayne." He kept his eyes locked on the brunette. The other vampire was on Michael in a flash, grabbing the struggling man and hauling him back over to kneel in front of David. He got to his feet, looking down at him, "This is the only warning you get, Michael. You need to learn to behave yourself. Sure, some of it will come in time but this? This time it was all you." He held up his bleeding wrist, "Love the eyes by the way." He forced the wound against his lips, watching intently as he was forced to swallow.

Michael tried to shift under Dwayne's firm grasp, glaring angrily at David, mentally vowing to kill the bastard when he got his next chance. But soon, the blood didn't leave much room for more thought, and his eyelids fluttered closed as he drank. Gentle fingers slid through his hair, calming him, urging him to keep drinking. He gave a soft whimper as his hands reached up to press the wrist closer to his lips.

"See, not so bad, is it?" Those fingers kept combing through his hair, the blood dripping into his mouth but slowing as the wound began to close. When he finally pulled away, Michael was blinking up at him, supporting himself on shaking knees.

"You shon of a bitch…" He slurred, falling back as Dwayne released him, bringing his hands up to run quivering fingers through his hair and trying to steady himself as the world around him spun. Marko and Paul stood behind David, watching intently before exchanging a smug look between each other. They didn't usually get a show like this. A nice change from the screams and desperate begging, as much as they enjoyed that too.

"Call me whatever you want, eventually you'll change your tune." David stated, moving back to sit in his chair, "I don't think you'll be going anywhere tonight." He chuckled, "Feelin' good?"

Michael rolled onto his side, facing away from David as he drew his knees up to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut, "fuck you."

"Looks like it," Dwayne remarked with a roll of his eyes as he stalked towards the couch and dropped down, slinging a leg up and relaxing.

"So, boys, what do you think? What should we do tonight?" He kept his eyes on Michael as he spoke, "Do let me know if you want anything, _need_ anything."

"How about those chicks from the other night, huh? Mikey won't get to have fun with them, but he'll get to see what he's missing," Paul suggested with a soft laugh as he popped a piece of gum in his mouth and propped his elbows up on the back of David's wheelchair.

"Not a half bad idea for once, Pauly." Marko grinned, "Paul and I will even go out and get them for us."

"Don't worry, Michael, you don't have to kill anyone tonight." David stated softly. He could barely hear him now, as the blood took hold, crimson claws digging into his veins and tearing at them, consuming him from the inside out. A few more tastes here and there, and even if he did figure out a way to 'kill the head vampire', which he wouldn't, it would only end up killing him, too.

For Michael, the night could have passed in a minute or a year, he wasn't really in his right mind to tell. What he _did_ know was that he seemed to have lost his tongue. And when garbled voices asked what was wrong with him, he barely made out some sort of explanation. Too much partying. Then laughter...and eventually screaming. Followed by the smell of blood, so much of it, he yearned to taste it but was denied.

"Get some sleep, Michael, I'll make sure you get home safe and sound. We'll see you again soon." David's voice broke through the haze. When he finally sank into darkness not long after, he found himself in a mental battle of wills with the part of him that actively looked forward to the idea, and the part that was slowly being stripped away piece by piece.

* * *

He could physically feel the sun on his face, so hot Michael could almost smell himself sizzling. Someone had just yanked open the window shades in his bedroom...and he could barely lift a finger or talk. But he had to. He had to _make_ himself move…

"Sam…" Michael croaked, already breathless from the effort.

Sam scowled at him, "Hey, you look like shit, what's wrong with you?"

He knew he was going to be out again soon if he didn't say something, didn't tell Sam...drop a hint. "C...omic. Comic real. Grandpa." Hopefully Sam was smart enough to pick up on it before he fell right back asleep.

His brother blinked down at him, "Umm, I'm gonna go get grandpa, okay? I'll be right back." He wasn't gone long, coming back with grandpa not long after, "Something's really wrong with him, I think he's hallucinating."

Grandpa stood over him and shook his head, "Damn fool." Honestly he wasn't sure what to tell Michael to do except maybe run. knowing damn well hallucinations had nothing to do with Michael's problem. Clearly the boy hadn't managed to kill the head vampire last night. Not too surprising. If it were that easy, anyone smart enough to pick up on a condition like his would be cured long before they came close to making their first kills...and Santa Carla wouldn't be a damn haven for the sons of bitches.

It would be a good, long while before the sun went down and Michael was coherent enough to hold a conversation. He looked even paler today than yesterday...yeah, the boy had something to talk to him about, alright. But as long as he was here now, and he hadn't turned to bacon on his bedspread, there was still hope. "Sam," the old man rounded on his youngest grandson.

"Yeah, grandpa?" Sam looked nervous, becoming more worried by the second.

"I want you to get your skinny ass in that kitchen and brew a pot of coffee. Black. When you got that taken care of, you bring it in here, and you go back to brew another. You just keep doing that until I tell you to stop, you hear me?"

Sam scowled, "How's that gonna help? That's a lot of coffee."

Grandpa Emerson gave him a very firm frown, pointing to the door, "do what I said." He paused, "and bring a batch of instant in here with a spoon while you're at it."

Sam grumbled but went and did as he was told, "Still say it's too much coffee for one old man, gonna get a heart attack from all the caffeine."

It took a little longer than it should have, and by the time Sam arrived with the first batch of coffee, the old man was practically staring him down, "you fartin' around in there when I gave you something to do?" He didn't have time to play. They needed to get this dealt with. Probably have to let the kid in on what happened to his brother, too.

"No, this is stupid though! Why do you need so much coffee?" He plopped the pot down, "Mike's sick, he doesn't need coffee, he needs a doctor."

"Sam," he sighed, rubbing at his temples as he snatched the pot up, coffee sloshing up to the lid, "doctor can't help this problem. Get a mirror before you put the next one on to boil." He looked down at Michael and reached forward with his free hand to prop his grandson's head up as Sam headed back downstairs, scowling in confusion. "Tough love, kid," he grumbled as he pressed the spout to Michael's lips and slowly began to pour. In an instant, Michael was sputtering and trying to shove him away.

"The fuck, grandpa?!" He exclaimed as he coughed groggily.

"Just drink, Michael. Only way I'm gonna get a lick of sense out of you before nightfall." He sighed, "And who knows what I'll get out of you after the sun sets."

Gagging, Michael reached up to pull the pot out of his grandfather's grasp, " I want a cup," he grumbled irately as he forced himself to begin drinking. It was hot. Probably scalding the kid's tongue, but all the better to wake him the hell up.

"What happened?"

Shifting until he was in a proper sitting position, Michael slowly lowered the coffee pot to his lap, "went there. Tried to kill him...couldn't. Fell asleep, then asked them to take it back when I woke up." He scowled, closing his eyes and taking another couple of large gulps, burping after the effort and bringing a fist to his mouth to keep himself from doing anything worse. "Then…"

Grandpa waited silently for him to continue, taking the pot from him and pouring some of the coffee into a cup when Sam returned with a second batch and something to drink it out of.

"Set it down and go make another one." He handed him the now empty pot, waiting for Michael to continue. Sam's eyes bugged out of his head, but one more look from the old man sent him out of the room grumbling.

"They told me they wouldn't...couldn't...I dunno. Then I told them to fuck off, and…" Michael trailed off, lowering his eyebrows angrily as he cup from his grandfather's hands, pinching the bridge of his nose and forcing himself to drink more. Then he slowly lowered the cup and stared bleakly at the wall ahead, thoughts reluctantly rewinding themselves back to that moment last night when they held him down and made him drink David's blood. Just the thought sent his heart rate into overdrive, waking him up far more than a dozen pots of coffee ever could as he unconsciously drug his tongue along his bottom lip.

"What happened next?" He prompted, swallowing slightly. The look on Michael's face was hungry. Predatory, even. In that moment...he looked nothing like his grandson and he had to rely on his words to bring him back.

"They didn't want to let me leave," Michael rasped, shaking his head, "grabbed me and restrained me. Then...David cut his wrist, and he put it over my mouth," Michael took a shaky breath, "couldn't stop myself…"

"You drank again." He paused, "Noticed any changes? Thought of what you're going to do? You said you couldn't kill him."

Michael drained his cup to the dregs, holding it out to him for more, "want more. Can't get it out of my head. Couldn't even walk after that. They made me lay there while they brought a bunch of girls over...when I heard them screaming…" Michael squeezed his eyes shut, "god, grandpa, I wanted to _join in_!"

"Run." He poured him another cup, "We could always try animal blood, see if it helps, but the longer you stay around them, the harder it's going to be to resist."

"You...you think we could get away? They wouldn't try to follow?" Michael looked dubious, and as Sam returned to the room with another batch of coffee and a small hand mirror, he just barely caught the end of the conversation.

"We can't know for sure." He took the mirror, scowling at Michael, "You feelin' okay?" He questioned, as he examined him. When Michael spoke of the previous night, about the blood, he swore his eyes turned gold for a moment.

"Grandpa…" Michael mumbled, leaning back against the headboard and taking a labored breath. Unable to even begin to force himself to drink any more coffee. It would just come right back up the way it went.

He laid a hand on his knee, "What?"

"Don't suppose you got any of that animal blood you were talking about just laying around the house, do you? Think I might need to try some..."

Sam stared back and forth between them, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Grandpa got to his feet, handing the mirror to Michael, "I'll see if I have any." He paused, "You can tell Sam."

Michael glanced over at his little brother blearily, yawning as he settled back down into bed, frowning. "Sammy, I'm...gonna show you something. You gotta promise you won't act like a mega-dork and freak out on me...okay?" His eyelids began to flutter.

"You're kinda already freaking me out here but, okay."

Slowly raising his hand with the mirror in it, he offered it to his little brother, "look at me with this. Think your comic probably says some shit about it…" Michael yawned again. "Don't wanna go through the whole story again…" And then, he was asleep.

Sam slowly tilted the mirror, looking at his brother before letting out a choked scream, "Y-You're a shit sucker! A goddamn vampire!" The drama was wasted on him. He wasn't waking up any time soon.

"Keep your voice down, boy." Grandpa had a plastic container filled with thick red. He pulled the top off, the smell of old pennies filling the room, "Michael," he slowly touched his shoulder, "brought you Bambi."

* * *

Michael, the idiot that he was, was planning on taking off. David drummed his fingers on his thigh. That just couldn't be allowed. The kid was so fucking stubborn and although it made the chase that much more rewarding it also made him a pain in the ass. The biggest pain in the ass he'd ever, had to deal with and he'd dealt with Paul and Marko. David was offering him the _world,_ and he just wanted to throw it back in his face! He felt like the fucking goblin king right now. Michael would have no choice but to give in, he'd just have to make sure the teen understood that.

David got to his feet, heading for the exit, "Gonna go wait for Michael to try and leave town, I want to see his face when he realizes he's stuck here until _I_ deem otherwise." He glanced back at the boys, "Can come with me if you're going to be good boys."

Marko stretched, "beats doing clean-up duty tonight." He glanced over at the pile of bodies they'd yet to get rid of in the corner of the lobby. Probably just toss them in a pit or something.

"It'll have to be taken care of sooner or later." Dwayne said as he headed outside.

"Hey, why don't we hide them in a couple of trunks?" Paul suggested with a grin, "heard some big shot singers are coming to a concert tonight. Be funny to see the headlines tomorrow…"

"Too much attention." Dwayne responded, "We don't need that."

The bleach blonde rolled his eyes, "He's right, I know you see the headlines but this is already the murder capital, don't need to add celebrities to that list."

"Could put them in a couple of beds tonight, though," Marko suggested. "No headlines...but the screams'd be worth it."

David looked thoughtful, "That's doable." He mounted his bike, "You do that, I'll take care of Michael."

* * *

"Uh...mom?" Michael poked his head out the front door, where Lucy was relaxing on the patio with a cup of tea. She'd finally found a small job working at the local supermarket, so she wasn't home today. Was lucky enough to avoid the brunt of the drama. He wasn't too sure he wanted to tell her anything anyway, if he could help it.

"What is it, honey?" She put her tea down.

"Grandpa and I are going on a camping trip. Tonight."

She scowled, "It's such short notice, is everything alright?" It was wonderful that they were spending time together but this was sudden.

' _Nope, mom. Just turning into a vampire. Probably going to end up slaughtering a bunch of innocent people and playing bat in a cave for awhile. You know. Typical teenage shit.'_ "Nope, mom. Just...uh...there was this girl back in Phoenix. I'm having some trouble getting over her is all…" Smooth.

She nodded, "You can always talk to me, you know that, right?"

He looked thoughtful, shaking his head, "don't think you can help me with this." He jerked his head up, when he could swear he saw a light flickering out of the corner of his eye on the front lawn. A cigarette? No...he was just imagining it.

"If you're sure…" She got up, hugging him, "Alright, honey." As she wrapped her arms around him, Michael slowly raised his own, but...then he caught a whiff of something. Not her perfume...something beneath it. Sweet. Mesmerizing…She pulled back, "You should go get your stuff ready if you're going."

He quickly nodded, rushing back inside with wide eyes, clutching at his chest as he spun about and dashed through the house. They should've left earlier. Should've already gone by now...but grandpa and Sam just weren't strong enough to carry him...and after that little talk, he was just too spent to leave his bed. And now it felt like a thousand hammer blows were assaulting his ears. He knew what it was too, as he pressed his fists to the side of his head and leaned up against a wall. Heartbeats. Mom's, Sam's, grandpa's...fuck...even Nanook's.

He was so close to the stairs...could go up and lock himself in his room before he did anything, but that was when the stomach cramps started. Fuck, it was like someone had tug their hand into his core and started twisting from the inside out. Michael whimpered, closing his eyes tightly and trying to block out the world around him. All the animal blood had done was leave a bad taste in his mouth, and maybe clear the fog from his mind a little...but it just wasn't…

 _Michael._

He opened his eyes, looking about frantically, "David?!" He hissed, absolutely terrified of himself.

 _Michael._

That voice, it echoed through his head, felt so right, so soothing. God, he wanted to fight it. Tried to. But it was a balm on his anger and fear. He couldn't help but listen.

 _Where do you think you're headed?_

"I'm leaving. I don't want to be one of you. Already told you that," he rasped, then grunted and pulled his knees up to his chest as a new wave of pain assaulted his stomach.

He could hear his laugh in his head. _Sure you will. Hungry?_

"What do you think, asshole?" He gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath when it seemed as if the pain was going away, only to come back seconds later even worse than before. He couldn't take this much longer. Even scarier, a tiny part of him didn't seem to mind the idea of knocking off someone in the house just to make it go away.

 _That kid looks tasty, bad taste in clothes, but that doesn't affect the flavor any._ He could picture exactly what David was doing, leaning against a tree, smoking, as he looked at the house.

Then, Michael stood up, opened his eyes, and began to climb the stairs.

 _He's up there, on his bed, looking at some stupid comic._

And he couldn't even begin to think, as David's voice took root in his head, carrying him further towards the second story.

 _Some trash about vampires or maybe it's some asshole in tights._

He was standing right outside Sam's bedroom door now, reaching for the handle. Turning it.

 _Think of how good it would feel to pin him down._

The door was open. And Sam looked up at him fearfully, while Nanook perched beside him on the bed growling.

 _To drive your fangs into his throat, feel that hot, thick, red treat spill past your lips, slide down your throat._

"Mike?" Sam said his name. "Mike, are you okay?" He repeated, drawing back and digging his hands into Nanook's pelt in fear. Michael took a few steps forward as the husky began to snarl and snap his jaws in warning.

 _Break the dog's neck, drink your fill, taste the fear, the pain, as you taste the best thing in the world, the thing that gives life to all._

In that instant, when Michael drew his upper lip up into his own snarl, the dog leapt from the bed and dove for him, knocking him back against the wall and driving fangs into his shoulder. "MIKE!" Sam shouted. Then the brunette managed to shove the dog away, cradling his arm in his hand, as David's control over him in that instant seemed to snap. Or...he _let_ it.

"Mike?" Sam crept out of his room, looking down at Nanook, who'd calmed down enough to lumber back into the room, now that the threat seemed to have faded. "What'd you do to my dog, you asshole?!" He demanded, when he saw his brother cradling a bleeding hand.

"Sam…" Michael grumbled, closing his eyes and slamming his head back against the wall. "Are you fucking kidding me, right now?"

He could practically hear David laughing and in that moment he knew David had let him go. Sam glared at him, checking Nanook for injuries, "What the hell, asshole? You okay buddy." He rubbed through his fur, "Won't let that mean shit sucker eat you."

"Sam," Michael ground out, trying to maintain his temper. "If you weren't my little brother, I'd beat the shit out of you right now."

"You're the one that tried to eat my dog, asshole." He grumbled into his fur.

"This is my blood, you little weasel!" Michael held up his dripping hand. He was just glad the smell didn't work him up. Apparently his own blood wouldn't do it for him...which was nice, if he was going to deal with an insane husky snapping at him like that. "He…" Michael took a breath, "he was trying to protect you…"

"You were gonna eat me?!"

"Don't you think I'd have done it by now if I was?!" Michael stood up, licking at his hand to clean it. He didn't even realize how animalistic or odd that was. It just seemed natural.

"Eww, gross. Mike, you're like a dog."

Michael slowly lowered his hand, half-clean by now, frowning down at it and then looking back up at Sam, "I think running away might not be such a good idea…I'm...going to go talk to him again tomorrow." He'd already given his brother a short breakdown of the events, leaving out the extra blood-drinking fiasco. Because talking him off of the roof twice in a row would have just been ridiculous.

"Why aren't you gonna run? He can't get to you if you're not here."

Shaking his head, Michael just looked at his brother sadly, "he'll find me. I'm pretty sure he'll make me do something if he catches up…"

"That's a bullshit excuse, what if he never catches you? You'd be safe!" He paused, "And I can go kill him for you."

"It's hard to explain, Sammy. He'll...I just have a feeling he'll know where I am, okay? I'm not letting you get your ass killed just because you want to save the day, either. I'll handle this on my own...I just need more time."

"Bullshit, I'm gonna get some help...Just, don't be stupid."

Michael leveled him with a dark look, "I'm going to go talk to grandpa and tell him I can't leave. I think I should tell you the same thing. Don't be stupid, Sam. I'll figure this out."

Sam shook his head, his brother was an idiot if he thought he could take care of it himself. Those Frog brothers seemed to have a pretty good idea about how to handle this kind of thing. Maybe they'd know more than grandpa.


	5. Beach Party

Sam was nervous. It wasn't every day that you went up to someone and said, 'hey, vampires are real, I need your help to kill one so I can save my stupid brother.' He stepped inside the shop, his eyes darting around, trying to find the two brothers.

He needn't have looked too long...they were both crouching around a couple of boxes by the counters and sorting through new inventory. Edgar was the first one to look at him, scowling, "I told you we're _not_ discounting that Superman comic just because it's got a coffee stain."

"I don't care about that." He slammed the vampire comic down in front of him, "I need to kill a vampire."

Alan and Edgar looked at each other, then back up at Sam as they stood up together, crossing their arms.

"You came to the right place," Edgar grunted. "Who do you want us to kill?"

"Those biker assholes." He stated, Michael wouldn't tell him anything but it was the only possible explanation.

Alan nodded, "makes sense. Only see them at night. Local legends. Long nails. Leather jackets. The palpable fear they have in their eyes whenever they walk by us. Yeah...typical vampire behavior."

Edgar knelt down to dig through the box, pulling out another vampire comic and holding it out to Sam, "give us a call around six. Shop number's on the back of this one. We'll shut down early and meet you at your place before sunset to make a plan of attack. Vampires got one of your family members?"

"Six is gonna be late, we should really do this during the day." He paused, "Yeah, my brother, they, umm, fed him blood."

"Explains the death-breath," Alan mumbled, looking out towards the entryway to the store.

"We can take care of it right now if you know where they sleep," Edgar grunted, meeting Sam's gaze. "Do you know where they sleep?"

"No, we gotta find out from Mike but he doesn't wanna talk."

"Don't worry. We have ways of making people talk…" Edgar cracked his knuckles.

Later that evening, as Sam waited outside of Michael's bedroom door for Edgar to finish talking to him, he began to grow worried. It was getting dark outside...and they still hadn't said anything. He pushed the door open and looked around, eyes growing wide when his gaze settled on Michael's open bedroom window, curtains fluttering in the breeze.

"Mike? Ed?" Sam slipped into the room, encircling it, until he heard a squealing sound coming from Michael's closet. Slowly, he pulled the door open, and jumped back in surprise. He couldn't have been prepared for the sight. Ed, bound with jump rope, gagged with his own underwear, and dangling upside down from the bar, struggling desperately.

* * *

He couldn't _believe_ Sam had pulled a stunt on him like that. Even grandpa had told him to keep this shit between family. What's more, that nutjob geek friend of his had spent about an hour just poking at his shoulder and stomach with a hockey stick while he couldn't do anything but remain prone and aware, irritated beyond belief. Occasionally he'd even throw out some kind of threat about stakes and the American justice system...fuck, how did Sam honestly think this kid could help them? He was clearly delusional.

Waking up when the sun finally went down did nothing to ease his temper, if anything, it made it that much worse when he jumped off of his bed and gave the kid the throttling of a lifetime. Stopping just short of making his first kill...which he could've easily done. The idea was what scared the shit out of him enough for him to get control of himself and give the ass-hat a lesson in poking sleeping monsters.

The animal blood wasn't doing him much good, he realized, when he'd finally gotten control of himself and closed the closet door, temper that much less raging now that he'd relieved a little bit of stress. It didn't even register that he wouldn't have been nearly that mean a couple of days ago, beyond decking the kid in the face for bugging him.

He ran his hands through his hair, looking towards the window. He knew it wouldn't do him much good...probably make things even worse...but the urge to leave was overwhelming. Grandpa would be pissed. But what choice did he have? Maybe...fuck, he couldn't even come up with an excuse to convince himself with. Maybe he'd calm down when he met up with them for a few hours, or David could ease up on the crazy shit he was doing to his head if he got the impression Michael was giving in.

But he _wasn't_ , he told himself. He wasn't.

When Michael climbed out of the window, he was almost shocked that he didn't fall and break his neck when his feet slipped. It was insane...like the wind was cushioning him as he descended to the ground. By the time he'd reached it, he was darting off across the yard. He'd have to keep quiet if he didn't want grandpa finding out he was doing this. He had to handle it on his own...there was nothing the old man could do but wait and maybe hang some crosses around the doors and windows. The rest had to be up to him, he decided.

Michael was very good at lying to himself.

* * *

David could feel Michael, knew he was coming, probably even before Michael himself did. He leaned against his bike, taking a drag off his cigarette. It had been so much fun to mess with him, he almost had him making his first kill but that would just ruin the game this early on. So between the dog bite and Michael realizing what he was doing David decided the best course of action was to let him go. There was plenty of time for games, no need to rush.

He tipped his head back, blowing out a ring of smoke. Paul was rattling on about some girl he saw, a local, but damn did he want to break the rules with that one. All it took was one stern look from Dwayne for that idea to be shot down. That just left Marko racking his brain, trying to think of what he wanted to do tonight. Party long enough, you start to get creative to keep it exciting.

"Should deal with those dick-bags…" Marko finally decided, referring to the surf nazis. "Too many of them around lately. They must've had some kinda stupid little initiation party."

David glanced where he was looking, "Could do that, have a beach party. You know how much they enjoy those."

"Could use a new stereo," Paul agreed. He'd smashed the other one last weekend. Gotten a little too excited now that Max was out of the picture. Hell, they all had.

The leader nodded, "Alright, beach party it is." He glanced down the boardwalk, "See if Michael wants to join us."

Dwayne smirked, glancing over at the brunette as he quietly parked his bike as far away from them as he could manage. " _Should make it a surprise."_

A low laugh escaped his lips, " _Let's wait and see what he wants before we drag him down to the beach."_ He locked his gaze on the brunette, "Michael, good to see you, how're you doing tonight?"

Michael slowly approached them, hands tucked into his jacket pockets, looking for all the world like he'd just bitten into an old lime. He looked pissed, and it wasn't necessarily at them, that much David could tell. "How do you think I'm doing, huh? You tried to make me eat my little brother last night."

"Nah, I didn't _try_ , if I had really wanted you to do it you would and all this wouldn't matter anymore. I think you're hungry, I think you need something to get your mind off it, and I think you need to be with your pack. What do you think?"

The brunette sighed, closing his eyes, "I'll hang out with you guys tonight...but I don't want to eat, okay? I'm fine." Clearly, he wasn't. In fact, it probably wouldn't take too much to make him eat right now if they really wanted to. Even in front of all these people, David knew just a little cut on his finger would bring Michael trailing towards him like a lost puppy. Amusing picture, but not great for avoiding unwanted attention.

"Alright, don't have to eat tonight, no worries, and hey, if you get hungry and don't want to chow down on a human, you can feed from me, no risk of making your first kill that way. Sound good?" He spoke softly, his words just for Michael. Working their way into his mind, persuading him despite himself. Now that the change was really taking hold, he was a little bit less repelled by the idea.

Michael sighed, looking away from David, not even fully aware that the very act was a very small form of submission, of giving in, "fine. Whatever. But I'm not staying all night this time."

"Alright!" He clapped his hands, "Let's head down to the beach, shall we?" He strolled off, the others following, Marko and Paul grinning at Michael before they started pushing each other, vying for position. Michael walked alongside them, shrugging away the feeling that something was off about this. Because no matter what, clearly anything that involved these guys would pretty much be 'off' by any normal person's standards.

"You have Marko to thank for this tonight, by the way." David stated, hopping off the stairs into the sand.

Marko grinned, leaning up against Paul and biting at the thumb of his glove. There was actually a little hole in it now from all the coy chewing he'd been doing. Michael vaguely recalled Dwayne saying something about that.

"Thank for what?" Michael quirked an eyebrow, "he the reason you're trying to get me to join your fucked-up cult?"

David laughed, full bodied, tipping his head back, "Nah, joining our pack, that's all me. I knew you had it in you the moment I saw you. No, tonight we're gonna party on the beach thanks to Marko's idea. So, welcome to the party!" He motioned toward a bunch of guys around a bonfire.

Michael's eyes widened nervously, and he took a hesitant step back. He didn't think he could handle it again if he had to watch or even listen to what their idea of 'partying' was. " _Fuck_ ," he whispered under his breath, prepared to make a break for it. "You mother fuckers…" He glared about at all of them, reaching into his pocket to touch the small insurance policy his grandfather had given him...despite the fact that it burned his palm like a son of a bitch.

Dwayne glanced over at David, and then back at Michael. Paul and Marko exchanged a smirk.

"Bet he can't even hold it...not long enough to do him any good," Dwayne stated boredly.

"How did you…?!" Michael blurted out, eyes darting nervously back towards the party dancing around their fire and stereo, drunken and oblivious as to what was about to happen to them.

David moved close to him, standing toe to toe, "You can't hide anything from us, Michael." He paused briefly, his eyes flashing gold for a moment, "I did tell you, if you get hungry, if you don't think you can take it anymore, you can feed from me. No need to take the plunge yet."

He was at a loss, squeezing the cross in his pocket until he could practically smell his own flesh burning against it, sizzling. Without looking away from Michael, David spoke, "Go for it boys."

"No!" Michael shouted, finally jerking his hand from his pocket and gasping from the pain. He could see _bone_ and muscle...no, that cross wasn't going to help him tonight. The quick cry he'd given was enough to draw the attention of a few of the dancers at the edge of the party, one of them blinking blearily out into the darkness.

Dwayne got to them first, grabbing one and driving his fangs in. There was a scream and then chaos erupted. There was running and screaming, blood, so much blood, and laughter that echoed through the night. Some of them were fighting back, one of them ran at David. The bleach blonde hadn't moved, hadn't taken his eyes off Michael even for a moment. So when he lashed out, grabbing the human by the throat. Michael couldn't help but be surprised.

Then the pain in the halfling's hand seemed to fade in the face of something so much more intense. God, how he wanted to fight the beast crawling up from his core, wrestling to take control. But god wouldn't even let him use his symbol as a weapon to protect himself. Michael squeezed his eyes shut tight, feeling fangs explode in his mouth, tearing through his gums and drawing his own blood in the process. " _Fight it…"_ a dying voice whispered and wailed in his mind as he stared directly at David, meeting his gaze. It was too late to take David up on the offer to drink _his_ blood. The beast knew that wouldn't be enough anymore…

David wasn't about to let him feed off the man in his grasp, no, he wasn't ready for this game to end. So as he drove his fangs into the man's throat he shoved his wrist hard againsts Michael's new fangs, feeling his skin split in ragged strips and the blood begin to flow. Michael drank. He devoured. He gave up hope, and he let go. A part of him was almost relieved it was only David's blood. Wasn't even disgusted anymore. The other half was enraged, as he slowly gained the strength to push it back enough to think. To be himself again.

David was holding him when he came back to himself, his wrist still pressed to his lips, dripping blood into his mouth, "Almost lost the game there." He snagged the hand that had touched the cross, "Already healing." His wrist didn't move as he spoke, letting him drink as much as he wanted. When Michael finally pulled away, the spark of defiance in his eyes seemed to have died a little. One more step in the right direction.

"Is this going to be a thing now? You practically date rape me with your blood every night?" Michael grumbled moodily as he licked his lips. His face was slowly reverting to normal now, sated enough to shove his hunger away. The dying cries of the remaining party-goers didn't seem to really bother him anymore, now. They had nothing to do with him.

"I saved you from making your first kill, at least you could show a little gratitude." He licked the last of the blood off his skin

"Still don't want any of this," Michael shrugged, for the most part emotionally dulled by the carnage. If he didn't know any better, he'd think he was shocked. But something told him that even if David had 'saved him' from killing tonight, he'd still lost a part of himself he'd never see again. At least he wasn't blacking out this time.

"Regardless, this is what you are now. Better start learning to accept it." He looked over at the boys, "Start cleaning up." He turned back to Michael, "You're gonna figure out that you need us more than you think you do. Take your time and let me know when you finally come to your senses."


	6. School

A month had passed. School was starting. Sam had no clue how to save his brother...but Mike was still human...for the most part. And that was really what mattered most. It meant they had more time. He didn't know what they were going to do, exactly, but they'd figure it out. Eventually. So far, all Ed and Alan had learned from their experience trying to weasel out the lair of the head vampire was that they needed to wash their underwear more frequently. They'd stopped trying to interrogate him in favor of quietly spying whenever they dropped by to visit. Sam was seriously beginning to doubt they could honestly help at all. As for grandpa...he'd given up that night Mike came back after his first fight with Ed. Said all he could do was keep the house and the rest of the family safe.

"Sam?" Michael called out groggily in the hallway as he trailed by his brother's bedroom door, stumbling in the early morning hours. They'd figured out pretty quick if he always had a bottle or flask of animal blood tucked away, a hefty dose would keep him at least semi-conscious for a couple of hours at a time. Long enough to go to school so mom didn't start freaking. She blamed Michael's sleep schedule on depression, and his nightly joyrides on the divorce.

"Mike, you can't wear that jacket to school!" Sam shouted out to him, peeking into the hallway.

"..." Michael squinted at his little brother, shoving his sunglasses onto his face, "why not?"

"...well...I mean...makes you look like an asshole. A bully. Like you give kids swirlies and wedgies for lunch money," Sam mumbled.

Michael snorted, heading downstairs and ignoring him, nearly tripping as he descended. Honestly, he looked drunk. He always looked drunk during the day, actually. When he wasn't sleeping. The only time he could really sleep was during the day, and the nights, well, he couldn't keep himself away from the boys for long, David had been right when he said he needed them. It felt like he was going to lose it without them. He didn't even resent spending his free time with them these days. A lot of times, he felt like he related to them a lot more than his own family anymore. But, well...if he killed, what then? He wouldn't be able to stay in the house anymore. He'd eventually have to tell mom the truth, and that was enough to make him want to hold out just a little longer. Unfortunately, he couldn't honestly say he even felt guilt about the _idea_ about taking that final step. But the principle remained the same. It was wrong. That was all there was to it.

"Mike! I'm serious! You look like...like a bad guy…like one of _them._ "

And that was the other thing, he really was looking more and more like the Lost Boys. Some days Sam hardly even recognized his big brother. He wasn't really that _happy_ anymore, and they didn't spend a lot of time fighting or hanging out like they used to, either. His temper before hadn't been the greatest, but now? God help you if you pissed him off. Sam's ears were still ringing from the day Michael went on a tirade about the fact that he couldn't take a decent shower anymore. He hated to think what would happen if they actually had a tv...with a remote to fight over. Sam was sure he'd be 6 feet under by now if they did.

"Don't know what to tell you, Sammy," Michael mumbled as he took a swig from his flask and grimaced as he yanked open the fridge door to grab a plastic container chock full of the stuff for handy refills. Mom thought they were protein shakes. So far, she hadn't touched them. _That_ would be a fun conversation…

"Wanna go to school on my bike? Let mom sleep a little longer?" Michael yawned, leaning against the fridge while he refilled his flask. Frankly, Sam wasn't too sure he trusted his half-vampire jerk brother's driving right now.

But the absolute worst thing about all of this? The early nights Sam had to watch his brother practically crying on the bathroom floor from pain before he drug himself away from the house. It only happened about three times or so, but that was enough to scare the hell out of him. Then he'd come home looking better than ever, and Sam couldn't understand how. Mike wouldn't even talk about it. But...if it boiled right down to it, and he had to choose between having Mike around as long as he could hold on and not make a kill, or ending that pain...he wasn't too sure which choice he'd go with.

"Sammy?" Michael waved a hand in front of his face, "earth to Sam? You want a ride?"

"Umm, yeah, sure, just...please don't kill me." He paused, "Can you, like, drive a little more carefully?"

Michael scowled as he stuck the plastic container back in the fridge, "I'm getting fucking tired of you telling me _that_. Even if it's not about riding my bike." He snatched up his backpack from the kitchen table, "hurry up and grab some breakfast." He paused, "I _promise_ I won't kill you, Sammy," he drawled sarcastically as he ruffled his little brother's hair...nails almost cutting his scalp in the process.

He barely held back the hiss of air, grabbing a banana and his bag before heading after him, hoping he would take a swig of that flask before getting on his bike, it was safer that way.

* * *

The girls at the 'popular' table were all huddled around a notebook set down on the middle of the table. One of them had drawn a perfect likeness of that new boy, Michael and the others couldn't help but be a little nervous.

"I can't believe you drew this, are you stupid? He's one of _them._ "

"Who?" Another girl asked dumbly. She'd just moved there from Luna Bay. Pretty, but fairly thick. Like most of them, to be honest.

"The boys, the ones on the boardwalk, the bikers." She rolled her eyes, "Honestly, haven't you heard about them?"

"Uh...no," the girl squinted, even more confused as she glanced over at him. He was huddled in a corner table, drinking from something he had tucked under his jacket. Ohmygosh...such a bad boy, she thought. Bringing liquor to school!

"They made those girls disappear over the summer."

"Ugh. The Jennifers," one of the girls groaned. "They probably just ran away to be models in the circus or something. That's what they talked about _aaaaaaallll_ the time. Whenever _anyone_ goes missing, people always blame it on those guys." She glanced over at the boy, who'd tucked his drink away and was poking at his lunch with a fork.

"Come on, who else would it be? I know Kevin's dad is weird but not that weird."

"I think they're misunderstood," the girl drawing the picture of Michael stated quietly as she shaded in his hair, propping her chin up on her hand and sighing. "All those stories, too...I just don't think they're true. It's impossible. People were talking about them back when my grandma was in school. They're probably just like…'The Dread Pirate Roberts', y'know? Passing the torch every few years...it's really romantic, when you think about it." The Princess Bride had just come out, and the girls had watched it about a dozen times now. It never got old.

"How else do you explain all the missing girls, Erica?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

Erica looked about helplessly, "I don't…"

"Don't you think it's funny that all the _new_ people around here who want to know more about them seem to go missing, too? Huh?" Another girl asked, frowning.

"Well…" Erica stammered, "I don't..I...he's new too!" She pointed her pencil over at him. "How can he be one of them, huh? He's...they don't even go to school!"

"We've _seen_ them, besides, he's got the earring. He hangs out with them every night, kind of means he's with them."

The new girl looked thoughtful, "you know what?" She stood up with her tray, "I'm gonna go talk to him."

"Your funeral, Tiffani…" Another girl warned her, shaking her head. Even Erica looked a little scared, nibbling on her pencil nervously.

Tiffani set her tray down across from him before settling into the chair, "Hi." She smiled at him, "I'm new here too, my name's Tiffani."

He slowly looked up at her, lowering his fork and frowning. The old Michael would have loved the attention from a pretty girl like her...but then again, the old Michael also would have made friends and been sitting with them right now tossing a baseball back and forth. As it was, he had no real interest in her beyond the sound of her thrumming pulse. He was kind of getting used to this general emotional numbness towards humans, too. Fuck, he was even getting used to pretty much thinking about other people like that. Like a different species.

"Michael," he stated curtly, lowering his eyes to his untouched lunch. Nowadays, food just wasn't that appealing. He'd already resigned himself to the fact that it probably never would be again.

She scowled slightly, no one had ever turned her away, "Where are you from?" She gave him her most charming smile, batted her eyelashes at him.

He didn't look up at her again, pushing his tray off to the side and muffling a yawn, "you got a reason for bugging me right now?" Having to interact with a walking, talking meal was already beginning to irritate him. Because he couldn't _have_ it.

Michael drummed his fingers on the table, impatiently waiting for her to hurry up and leave him the hell alone. She gnawed her lip a little bit, "Well, I was hoping, maybe, we could go out on a date?"

Even before he did it, he felt bad. But he just couldn't help it. Michael began to laugh. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said between gasping breaths as he pressed his forehead against the table. He felt delirious. Knew he looked like an asshole...but this was just too funny.

She scowled at him, getting to her feet with a huff, before throwing the last of her drink into his face, "Asshole." With that she stormed away. He kept his head against the table as she marched off, sighing inwardly. It was for the best. Even if he was somewhat agitated when she decided to give him a milk bath. _Fucking bitch..._

But he really didn't need to deal with the clatter of plastic against the table as his brother and the dork brigade picked that exact moment to slam their lunch trays down and join him before he made his exit.

"Hey, Mike, you're not gonna eat that pizza...are you?" Sam reached over and pulled Michael's lunch tray closer. Cheerful and loud. Like he always was. It would be endearing if Michael didn't feel like he was in desperate need of a shower right now...or if he didn't have the distracting mental image of tearing into his brother's throat like a roasted chicken. Way better than pizza...

* * *

David drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair, resting his chin on the fist on his other hand. For the first time in a month Michael hadn't shown up. Every night since he figured out that he needed his pack he had been there but tonight? Nothing. He was tempted to go after him but for now it might be better to wait. A sigh of frustration escaped his lips, fuck it.

"Boys, wanna go for a ride?" He was already heading for the exit as he spoke. He didn't care if they wanted to go for a ride or not, he was going to go find their wayward halfling.

Dwayne and the others wordlessly followed. Sometimes it was just best not to say anything, when David was in one of his moods, and this was _definitely_ a mood...they were all beginning to grow a little frustrated. None of them had been given this much time before their first kills. It was already fairly clear that Michael's body was beginning to reject the animal blood he was secretly relying on to prolong the ordeal.

" _You're letting this go on way too long_ ," Dwayne remarked to David, privately. Opening the conversation to the others would only invite jokes, " _If we don't end this soon, he's going to think he can last another decade like this_." He rarely questioned their leader, but this was a special circumstance. Experiment or not...it had to end. _Soon_.

" _I know."_ He sighed softly, " _Tomorrow, we'll take him out tomorrow, force the issue if we have to."_ He replied, " _We'll see how he is tonight."_ He started up his bike, " _Hopefully it won't be_ too _bad."_


	7. Homework

Author's notes:

Ran - Yeah, 2 chapters in 1 day. Why? Because I felt like it. And because this is one of my favorite bits...

* * *

"If x equals y, and y leads to d, multiplying d by the variable of x, what is r?!" Michael read the formula aloud, casting the paper across his desk in disgust as he leaned back in his chair. This shit was practically latin as far as he was concerned. If it weren't for mom, he wouldn't even be _bothering._ And everything seemed to boil down to keeping his personal life a secret from her these days, everything down to the tiniest detail...like pretending he gave a fuck about classes that weren't going to do him much good, a high school degree that would only end up being a joke in a couple of years anyway. He slumped down, slamming his forehead into the desk and cursing under his breath. He was _never_ going to finish this.

A knock on the door startled him away from his homework, "Michael!" David's voice rang out loud and clear as he knocked on the door again. Michael jolted up from his desk at the instant Lucy slowly pulled open the front door. "Fuck…" He cursed, standing up and shoving his chair away as he bolted out into the hallway. There was no fucking way he wanted David to meet his mom...he'd probably eat her.

"Yes? Can I help you? Are you friends of Michael's?" She asked sweetly. It was a little after dark. Maybe not too late to have friends over, but they were certainly unexpected.

David gave his best homeboy smile, "Yeah, you must be Lucy, nice to finally meet you. Is Michael around?"

"I think he's upstairs doing his homework. Are you friends from school?" She smiled at David, completely oblivious to the somewhat disturbing aura he sent out that verged on wilting any flower beds he came into contact with.

"Yeah, could we come in?" It was easy to put her at ease and it made David grin inside.

"David!" Michael shouted from the top of the stairs, dashing down as quickly as his feet could carry him.

"Michael?" Lucy turned around, as her son finally turned the corner and rushed up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and glaring out at the boys. She looked up at him, confused, "your friends are here awfully late, sweetheart…"

"School project…" He mumbled under his breath.

"On the first day?" She looked even more confused, verging on lost.

"...Uh...Advanced...algebra. Forgot to mention it…" He replied dumbly. He should've been expecting this visit. The assignment just took a little bit longer than he'd expected. It was all those colliding train questions that fucking derailed him.

"The teacher is mean, gives projects right off, wants to promote friendship." Dwayne said softly.

"Want to work on it?" David grinned at him.

Lucy pulled away from her son, taking his hands in hers and patting them softly, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. I know you've been feeling a little…" She bit her bottom lip, "unsure, lately...maybe what you need right now is some friends. I'll be in the kitchen if you boys need anything," she added, turning her back on them and walking away. Michael gave David a meaningful glance, before sighing outwardly.

"Okay, fine, you bastards...come on…" he grumbled.

David stepped inside, followed by the others, "Doing homework, really Michael?" He whispered as he moved past him, the others following suit, "Wanna show us your room?"

"Do I have a choice?" Michael rolled his eyes as he headed upstairs. He didn't notice his little brother poking his head out of his bedroom door with wide eyes.

"Of course, just figured it was more private up there or we could head out." David shrugged.

When they finally reached Michael's room, Paul and Marko were punching each other in the shoulders, snickering at an unspoken joke. Michael glanced back at them quietly, as he stalked back towards his desk where a pile of scrap paper lay beside his workbook. The monster he would never vanquish. Far more terrifying than even David could ever be. "I've got a few questions left, then we can head out," Michael sighed as he sat down in his chair.

David looked around, taking in the room, "Not bad, not as good as the hotel, but hey, not bad." He paused for a moment, "How're you doing tonight?"

"It's got electricity and indoor plumbing," Michael remarked as he dug through the papers on his desk, searching for the worn-out page he'd actually written his answers on.

"And how're you feeling?" David prompted, snagging Michael's flask off his desk and smelling it, making a face, "How can you drink this shit?" He was met with a very sardonic half-smirk from his fledgling.

"I manage," Michael shrugged. "Keeps me alive…"

"Still doesn't answer how you're feeling." He took a seat on his bed, crossing his legs at the ankle, "And please, be honest."

"I'm...fine." He picked up his pencil and began to feverishly scratch at the paper, trying desperately to force his brain to figure out where the fuck 'r' had come from, and how it related to figuring out the answer.

"You don't look fine. We need to have a talk about what exactly is going to happen because that animal blood? It's not cutting it anymore." He paused briefly, "I wanna hear it from you, what do you think is gonna have to happen? Because I already know."

Michael threw his pencil back down, leaning back in his chair, "I don't know. I'll get some stomach cramps. Maybe my mood will get worse…" He glanced back at David, frowning, "why does it matter?" He didn't want to talk about this. It was a topic he'd skirted plenty of times. He just wasn't getting out of it tonight.

Paul laughed, opening Michael's closet and digging through it, "hey, Mikey...lots of boring shit in here, man. Why do you wear so much fucking pastel, huh?"

"Suck it, Paul," Michael retorted, glancing back down at his desk and then over at David, "why does it matter, David?" He repeated, growing solemn. He knew the answer. He just...needed to hear it.

"It matters because you're going to lose it, the pain is going to grow and the animal blood won't even barely take the edge off. You have to make your first kill. There's no choice anymore. Do you realize how much time I've given you as it is? Ask the others how long it was before they made their kills."

Marko smirked as he leaned against the wall, holding up a gloved hand, "three days."

Dwayne stood beside the door, keeping an eye on Sam as he watched them from the hallway, "Six."

"First fucking hour, man," Paul cackled as he stuck a joint in his mouth, grabbing the poles in the closet and hanging from them as he grinned around his little Mary Jane at Michael.

"So...you're telling me I have to kill someone just to deal with a few stomach cramps?" Michael finally looked at David again. "I think I've been doing alright so far." He paused, "how long did you last, huh? A couple of minutes? You seem so sure of yourself…like this is a fucking walk in the park."

He narrowed his eyes, "month and a half." He stated, "I know exactly what I'm talking about. I know how bad it gets and it's more than just a few stomach cramps." His eyes were narrowed as he looked at Michael, "You wanna know what's going to happen? You want me to tell you what you're going to go through?" He hadn't ever told the boys how long he lasted, how bad it really got, and how he drank from the vein as well.

"Go….go ahead," Michael replied, growing nervous as he looked towards his window and began to fidget with the pencil on his desk. He _knew_ Sam was out there, listening in. Hanging on to every single word.

"It starts with the cramps, you think you're gonna die. It gets worse, you start rejecting the animal blood and then your body begins eating itself. Your body aches constantly, you hunger, you need, and trust me when I say that crying blood, sucks. Then, when you think you're going to die, everything makes sense again because you've eaten your little sister." His eyes were locked on Michael's the entire time, "That's what you have to look forward to. You go feral and you feed, it doesn't matter who, there's no choice because the pain, it has to stop."

Michael set his pencil back down again, listening intently to David's little lecture. "You...killed your sister?" He glanced back over at the bleach blonde, slowly pushing himself away from his desk with a shaky breath. The idea...the idea that he'd lose it and do something to Sam...or mom…

There was a sudden squeak of distress, and they heard a door slam shut. Sam.

"Yeah, my first kill was my sister and it wasn't my choice. So, I'm gonna save you that, tomorrow night, you _will_ feed. Clear? Unless you do want to eat little Sammy. In which case, bon appetit. He's an annoying little twerp, anyway. None of us would blame you..."

"I...don't want to…" Michael replied weakly.

"Don't want to what? Eat Sam? That's why you're gonna eat tomorrow night."

Michael snorted, "shoulda staked you when I had the chance."

David chuckled softly, "Yeah, you couldn't do it." He paused, "And I don't mean that as in you're a wuss, I meant it in you're not physically capable. I knew you were there, why do you think I didn't wake up and stop you? I knew you couldn't do it." He grinned, "I'll even give you a free shot if you think you can do it." He knew the truth of the matter, Michael wouldn't be able to kill him. It was hard enough for him to kill Max and he had a lot of time on Michael.

"Still don't see why you can't take it back," Michael mumbled, slamming his math book shut. It was obvious enough to him now that he probably wasn't going to finish this stupid assignment. "You're all a bunch of assholes."

* * *

Sam thumped his pencil against the lunch table while he waited for the Frogs to show up. After hearing David talk about what happened to him last night he was on edge. He hadn't slept at all, the little bit he did get was plagued with nightmares. In the worst one, he was dressed in a frock like little house on the prairie, and Mike was chowing down on him before they took the cows out to milk. Maybe he'd been fantasizing about re-runs from TV guide articles a little too much, lately….

Edgar and Alan silently sat down on opposite sides of Sam, glaring at him.

"Where's your brother?" Edgar grunted, looking about suspiciously.

"Bloodsucker planning an ambush?" Alan added as he took a vicious bite from his garlic bread.

"He said he was sick…" He swallowed hard, "Guys, their leader or whatever, I heard something last night…." Just thinking about it made him feel sick, "They're gonna make Mike _feed_ and if he doesn't he's probably gonna eat me…" He whimpered softly.

"Leader?" Edgar frowned. "So...you know who it is, then? What he looks like?"

"Yeah, it's the bleach blonde one but guys, eat me, I don't wanna be food."

Alan took a gulp from his milk carton, lowering it with a very stoic white moustache painting his upper lip, "eat you? Sam...you're not making any sense."

"If Mike doesn't kill tomorrow, he's probably gonna eat me, the leader guy ate his sister."

"So...all we gotta do is restrain your brother. Doesn't sound too hard," Edgar mumbled as he took a bite of ketchup-laden mexican rice. "What could go wrong?"

"He's a muscle bound idiot, is he even stronger now? He did hang you in the closet, how hard was it for him?"

"Hey, I put up a good fight!" Edgar defended, "he just got lucky. Not gonna happen a fifth time, Sam."

Sam let out a snort, "Yeah, maybe we could barricade him in, like nail the windows shut and shit."

"Trust us...we smear some garlic cloves around those nails...your brother won't know what hit him," Alan nodded sagely, taking another hefty gulp of milk to reward himself for his cleverness.

"Could tie him up while he's napping…" Edgar added, looking around nervously. He hadn't forgotten the taste of his own jock straps or tighty whiteys.

* * *

It was well past sunset when grandpa went hunting for Sam. He had already checked outside, inside, even in his shop. There was only one place he hadn't gone yet and part of him was dreading walking in there, especially since Michael hadn't come out all day. He pushed open the door, blinking at the sight that greeted him. Sam and his two little friends were tied up and gagged in the middle of the room.

"What in the sam hill did you boys do?" He moved into the room, tugging Sam's gag off, "What were you thinking?" He left them tied, no sense in letting them loose for their own screw ups.

Sam coughed, staring up at his grandfather with a horrified expression, "gramps...we...we gotta stop him!" He pleaded, "Mike's gonna kill tonight!"

He looked toward the window, "He's lasted a long time, I'm not sure if stopping him is a good idea." He had to think about this logically, had to put emotion aside, "Haven't you seen how he is? The animal blood, it's not working anymore." He sighed, "We have to let him go."

Sam gazed at him, incredulously. And then...something seemed to hit home for him. "You...you think...he's just gonna keep having those...bad nights?" He didn't know how else to describe it. The nights Mike was prone on the bathroom floor, unable to move, in complete agony until night really hit.

"Yeah, Sam, he will and it'll keep getting worse."

All Sam could think about now was what David said, how he described it. The pain and agony and then the clarity when he ate his sister. If the son of a bitch hadn't stolen his brother from him, he almost would have a twinge of sympathy.

"I'm gonna untie you now and you're gonna leave well enough alone. What's gonna happen, is gonna happen, we can only protect ourselves and hope for the best."

Sam squeezed his eyes shut, nodding, "I just...I don't wanna lose him, grandpa. He...he's my brother."

"Hopefully when all is said and done he'll still be the same. I have a feeling in some ways he will be." He began to untie Sam, "There's nothing we can really do."

* * *

Michael didn't feel so guilty about the Frog brothers, when he slipped out of his bedroom window, but he hadn't really wanted to have to hog-tie his little brother. He couldn't really blame him for falling in with 'the wrong crowd', considering his own problems right now. At least Sam's friends didn't eat people. They were just idiots, and for the most part it wasn't contagious.

At least, he hadn't _thought_ it was, until he woke up with Sam holding a fucking cross over him while his two stooge friends tried to restrain his arms. Michael really thought they'd have learned by now. Honestly, they were lucky he didn't do more than just tie them up. He was so god damned starving right now, he'd almost thought he was just about to snap when the dork brigade tried to play cowboy.

Descending to the ground, Michael didn't know what reserves of strength he'd drawn from to keep his brother alive, but that well was quickly evaporating. Just the effort of flight was giving him the shakes. If David hadn't given him that fucking ultimatum, this would've been one of those nights he had to drink from him, anyway. He felt a twinge in his stomach at the thought as he slipped towards his bike. It was a good thing mom had started to pick up night shifts. If he didn't end up coming back home after this, at least it gave him enough time to figure out what to tell her. Honestly, he wasn't too sure whether or not he should just come out with the actual truth.

Maybe...maybe he could convince David to give him a few more days.


	8. The Window

David took a slow drag off his cigarette as he leaned against his bike. The embers burned red, glowing in the darkness. He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke drift away. Michael was a fighter, he reminded him so much of himself it was like looking in a mirror sometimes. There was no question that Michael would have kept resisting for as long as he could but in the end he would have fed. He might have lasted longer than David did but he probably would have eaten the whole house.

There was something about Michael, something that made David _want_. He had seen it in the human the moment he laid eyes on him. It wasn't that he just wanted him as part of the pack. That was a huge part of it, but there was something more. Something he wanted to pursue but Michael first had to feed. Maybe once he was fully one of them it would be easier to figure it out. He had never revealed how he was made until Michael forced his hand. The boys had no idea what had happened, he liked to leave it a mystery, but of course Michael would be the one to bring it out of him. He seemed to be bringing a lot out of him.

He watched as the brunette headed their way, "Michael!" He dropped his cigarette on the ground and rubbed it out with his boot, "Ready for tonight? Your first real hunt. Well, you've hunted with us before, but your first kill." Michael had gone with them when they hunted but he always fed from David, "You'll feel better when this is all over, trust me."

He didn't look too good right now. Shaky. Pale. Like a fucking heroine addict before a relapse. "I don't think I can do this," he mumbled, hand in his pockets. "Can barely even walk right now…"

"Why, you fuck a tiger or something?" Paul interjected with a snicker.

David shook his head, "Don't have to move to hunt. Think you can hold on long enough to get out there or do you need a little pick me up?" There was no way Michael could drive right now, not looking like he did.

"... _you_ need a pick me up," Michael grumbled practically incoherently. He was moody tonight. Always was when he needed blood this bad.

Their leader chuckled softly, "Come on." He mounted his bike, "Get on, you can be such a bitch when you're hungry, you know that, right?"

"Better than Dwayne, though," Marko mumbled, giving their more stoic pack member a sidelong glance.

Dwayne glared at him, "Come on Michael, get on with David. We'll get you something good to eat."

"This is stupid," Michael snapped as he climbed on behind David. "Can hold on another couple weeks easy…don't need to feed..."

"You sure about that? You're almost falling over."

The brunette didn't respond. He was too distracted sniffing David's neck. Closer to going feral than even _David_ had realized, judging by how little trouble he had with the idea of riding bitch, now that he was behind him. If he was in his right mind, he'd be complaining right now. David shook his head, heading for the 'bad' part of town.

* * *

Three men picked their way through an old warehouse, scavenging piles of trash and glass for old needles to wash and re-sell. You could say they weren't really the kinds of boys you'd take home to meet the folks. In the worst part of Santa Carla where police didn't seem to see much point in patrolling, guys like them got away with a lot of shit, and they denizens of this area had no fear of the boys. Didn't know much about them, really. They were usually more concerned with getting fixes and staying alive with less than the bare minimum.

"Hey, Ricky, look over there…" One of the three thugs rasped, head just barely an inch away from a pile of festering garbage when he caught sight of something just outside the warehouse garage. "Looks like a bike, man…"

"Damn, could get good money for that."

"Some drunk asshole's lying right by it. Bet you ten to one he stole the fucking thing. Got nice and hammered to celebrate before he took it off to the chop shop, huh?" the third member of their group snarked as he spotted a half-burnt cigarette and pocketed it for an after-dinner treat later.

"Joe. They don't break down bikes at chop shops, you stupid mother fucker," Ricky retorted, rolling his eyes.

"You sure? Why can't they? How else do you get money for it?"

"You sell the whole god damn bike! Not enough parts there to be worth tearing it to pieces, dipshit."

Joe rolled his eyes, "Fine, let's move the bastard and take the fucking thing." He headed over to the bike and the stupid drunk, pulling out a knife, "Move fucker." He nudged him with his foot, scowling down at him, "God dammit." When he didn't move Joe did the only thing he could think of, he stabbed him in the shoulder.

The other two watched in amusement and greedy delight, before it quickly morphed into sheer terror as the drunk surged forward and latched onto Joe's leg with hardly any effort, snarling inhumanly.

Joe screamed and kicked at him with his free leg, "Let go, asshole!" Then he felt white-hot agony as his ankle was snapped, blood and bone practically crushed into mush under the man's grip.

"Holy fuck…" Ricky gasped, stumbling back and turning to run only to slam into a very solid body.

"Going somewhere?" A short, blonde faerie with a mind-numblingly busy jacket and an innocent smile asked 'sweetly'.

Ricky spun, lashing out with his own switchblade, "The fuck?" His eyes, wide as a deer in headlights, bloodshot and streaming, were pulled towards his 'friend' who'd been in the grips of the insane drunk. But he didn't see anything resembling Joe left...only parts and bits of mangled flesh hanging from a broken corpse as the drunk dropped it to the ground and licked at bloodied fingers. Eyes gold, two viciously sharp teeth dangling over his chin.

A bleach blonde stepped out of the shadows, grabbing the third one by the throat, "We got a regular buffet here boys!" He grinned down at the one still licking the remains of Joe from his lips, "Still hungry, Michael? Got a couple more for you."

"Momma!" Ricky's second cohort shouted dumbly, trying to beat at the hand squeezing his windpipe.

Ricky shook his head, "No, no, Michael, umm, no, no biting." He squeaked softly, backing away from the little one, colliding into yet another body. He spun about, swinging wildly, only to find his fist thumping against a very solid chest. A solid, bare, chest.

"You're not going anywhere. Sorry, pretty sure Michael's hungry." The brunette grabbed him by the throat and hurled him into Michael. The last thing Ricky ever saw as the skin from his throat was torn into by the monster who held him were four others, laughing and taunting him as everything faded to black. He never thought he'd see anything worse than a batch of dirty needles on his aunt's bedroom floor, or the bottom-side of a prison cell bunk. Then again, Ricky didn't believe in vampires…

* * *

David crouched down beside their newest pack mate as he fed from the last of the three would be attackers. Michael was truly a sight to behold when he fed, he knew he had made the right choice the moment Michael had allowed his instincts to take over and he launched himself at the man who stabbed him.

He reached down, brushing his hair back, "Feelin' better?" He certainly looked better after eating three of them.

Michael slowly pushed his spent meal aside, taking a deep breath he didn't need, and letting it out, eyes trailing first to Marko, then Paul, Dwayne, and finally David. After the first son of a bitch stabbed him _unprovoked_ , it had been easy. Then they all just went from being people, victims, or human beings...to easy meals with dirty blood. But he felt a hell of a lot better than he had in over a month. Maybe even longer.

"Wasn't the best meal, quality wise, but there was no way you could participate in a bonfire party. Your next one'll be better."

Looking down at Michael he _wanted_. He wanted the brunette at his feet more than he had wanted anyone else. Seeing him bloody, his eyes still golden, it was just...perfect. But he'd have to be patient. Funny, he mused, it seemed like waiting now was going to be a lot more challenging than taking his time pushing Michael to make his first kill. Probably because he had a much better idea now what his end game with the younger vampire really was.

"I think I could've held out longer if that asshole hadn't stabbed me," Michael drawled, smirking.

All of them laughed but it was Paul that spoke, "Yeah, maybe, but we couldn't have handled your PMS much longer."

"Shut up, Paul," Michael retorted, climbing to his feet, with the help of an offered hand from David.

Marko grinned, "You're not yourself when you're hungry."

Dwayne rolled his eyes, "that sounded like a fucking ad, Marko."

"Now that he's been fed, let's go find some entertainment." David stated, "Need to snag Michael's bike."

The brunette looked thoughtful, "wanna go screw with my little brother?" He paused, "I don't want to scare him too bad. But he's been bringing his dumbass friends over every other day to bug me when I'm trying to sleep. Couldn't hurt to give him a little bit of his own medicine..." He paused, "but no biting, Paul. Marko."

"Sounds like a plan." David smirked, fucking with his brother sounded like a great idea.

Paul looked sad, "Aw, man, why not?"

Dwayne chuckled, "He knows you so well."

Marko pouted, "Just a little bit?"

"I'd like to actually visit them again without getting a cross shoved down my throat, dude," Michael shook his head. "This is already gonna push it enough, thanks."

David started up his bike, "Let's go, I can't wait to see the little shit's reaction."

Michael looked dubious, "one of you assholes couldn't have gone back to grab my bike while we were here?"

"And miss the show? Fuck, no. Besides, we're going back anyway." Marko grinned.

David glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, "Gonna get on or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. This is the last fucking time, though," Michael grumbled as he hopped on behind David.

If David had his way this wouldn't be the last time but Michael didn't need to know that. He let out a whoop as he started it up and headed back the way they'd come.

"This makes me feel like a god damned girl…" Michael complained in David's ear as he held on, unconsciously wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist as he pressed closer.

Yeah, totally worth it, he was sure Michael didn't even know he was getting closer to David's back, "Nah, could never see you as a chick, Michael." He tipped his head back and howled into the night. The others immediately chimed in, even Michael, despite his lamentations about their current position.

* * *

Sam curled closer around Nanook as he tried to sleep. All he could think about was Michael and the state he was in when he last saw him. His brother had looked like shit and there was nothing he could do about it, except maybe open a vein but then _he'd_ wind up Michael's first kill and, well, he was a little attached to living. Nanook seemed to sense his distress, giving his cheek a soft lick.

"Thanks, buddy." He rubbed his cheek in his fur. The husky growled softly, head popping up to stare at the window. It was only a few seconds later that Sam heard the sound of motorcycles split the night, "Mike?"

As if they sensed his very whisper, the sound immediately died. Sam waited on his bed, tense, clinging to Nanook as he strained to hear anything outside. Mike didn't _ever_ bring those guys home with him. Even when they showed up last night, he'd already been home. Probably hadn't even invited them. And...he hadn't forgotten what that blonde guy said. First kill...holy shit, Mike had made his first kill! And why would they come back here at all?

Nanook growled, pulling away from Sam and staring at the empty window. The silence had stretched into minutes...and for one delirious moment, he wondered if maybe he'd somehow been half-asleep and imagined it all. Like a waking nightmare. The sound of nails on glass made him jump, jerking to look out the window, whimpering softly, unable to see anything in the darkness. Had his brother forgotten about him? Had he been twisted into some vicious killer come back to destroy what was left of his human family?

Sam drew his covers up to his nose, thinking back to the latest vampire comic Ed and Alan had given him...recalling one of the immensely cheesy, but no doubt accurate passages in it: ' _the dead return, Alastair. They return to those they once loved, and in them do they find their true hungers sated. Do not trust what you can not see in the mirror. Do not trust what can not bear the touch of god!_ '

"Saaaaam…" His eyes widened as he heard the familiar call of his brother, and the scratching on the window returned. He gazed towards the glass, as Michael's grinning face finally came into view.

"Saaaaam...let me in, Sammy."

He couldn't speak, his eyes locked on the window, on those golden eyes that stared in at him, "G-Go away! I won't let you in!" He put on a brave front but, and he could admit it, was scared shitless.

"Come on! I'm your brother!" He paused, "and I'm _so_ hungry…"

He whimpered pathetically, "I…" Wait a minute, he was on the second floor, "You're floating!"

"What? That's just crazy, Sam," Michael replied, cocking his head to the side and looking thoughtful, "I'm standing on Marko's back. I swear!"

"I'm not coming over there! You're a vampire, you wanna eat me, well screw you! I'm not gonna let you in, you can't come in without an invitation." He gave him the finger, feeling a little braver, he was safe in here.

"Really?" Michael looked hurt, "Sammy...I'm your brother. Help me."

He shook his head, "I tried, I tried to help you but you tied me up and ran off! You killed someone!"

"Technically three someones, but who's counting?" Michael shrugged. "Don't worry, it wasn't anyone you knew. Promise."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?!" Sam yelped. "JESUS CHRIST, MIKE!"

"Easy, you're gonna wake someone up, yelling like that," the little blonde one poked his head up beside Michael.

"Marko, you dick, now he's not gonna believe I'm not flying right now…" Michael punched him in the shoulder.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE ME CONVINCED, ANYWAY!" Sam shouted back, yanking open his bedside table and blindly feeling around for a cross or a sharp pencil or something, while he kept his eyes focused on the pair at the window.

"So you're not letting me in. That's it. I gotta get an invite, or all sales final?" Michael sighed, tapping impatiently at the window.

"Shouldn't you tell him that we don't need an invite?" David chuckled softly, moving beside them, "All of us kind of already got invites and Michael, well, I bet Lucy would invite him in even if you won't. Not that it would matter, don't need an invite to come in."

Sam jerked out a cross, holding it up, "The fuck, how'd you get invites?"

"My bad," Michael held up his clawed hand and attempted to look vaguely apologetic. Even death hadn't made him a better liar. "Truth time, Sam. I'm not hungry. I'm not gonna eat you. Those comics are mostly bullshit, besides the few basics. Those friends of yours are assholes. Whether you like it or not, I'm still gonna keep coming over. I'm going to come into the house, too, and do you know what else I'm gonna do?"

He held back a whimper, "W-What?"

"I'm gonna beat the crap out of you if you touch my stuff." Michael scowled at him, before he slowly broke into a grin. Like the old Mike. Like his brother. "Lighten up, huh?"

"You're not gonna eat me? They're not gonna eat us?" He slowly lowered the cross.

"Eh," Michael shrugged noncommittally. "So I'm a little different now. I eat people, and I don't really feel too bad about it. Yeah...I'm officially dropping out, too. And...okay, maybe I'm going to have to start sleeping like a bat, can't cast a reflection, can't really handle running water or holy objects, can't-"

"Dude, you're fucking telling him how to kill us!" Another one of them snapped, leaning his head into the window frame. The rocker blonde with the shit-eating grin.

"He wouldn't. Not me, anyway. Maybe you, Paul...but you're a dick. You'd have it coming." Michael looked at Sam slowly, "we're still brothers. Aren't we? More or less?"

David let out a snort, "You'd go nuts without your pack." He looked at Sam, "Then he really would kill you, squirt. Like it or not, if you want to keep your 'brother', you're gonna have to deal with us, too."

"Just, umm, don't eat me."

"Don't tell mom about me until I'm good and ready to tell her myself, then you won't have to worry about that," Michael replied pleasantly. Conversational. Sam couldn't even tell if he was joking or not.

"What if I do? She's gonna wanna know where you are tomorrow. What? Gonna sleep in your closet?"

"Sam." Michael sighed, "I'm not staying here. I'm leaving. Pretty sure David over here would throw a bitch-fit if I don't."

"Just want to keep you nice and sane, sleeping away from your pack sucks, I don't want you to have to go through that." It almost sounded nice, especially coming from the soul-less shit-sucking head honcho, David. Seemed like he was the one in charge, anyway...holy fuck, the head vampire was floating right outside his bedroom window!

"You...sleep together?" Sam asked quietly, trying not to flip his shit again. He was very close to screaming his head off, now that he was getting a better idea of just what David was.

"Thanks for making it sound like a gay fuck-fest, Sam," Michael replied dryly.

"We sleep together, that a problem?" Dwayne stated coldly, looking at Sam.

"N-no…" Sam replied, pulling Nanook closer. The husky hadn't stopped growling since they all showed up.

"Good."

"'We sleep in the same room', 'we sleep near each other', 'we sleep close'...any of those phrases would have been better than 'we sleep together', Dwayne," Michael frowned. "That's kinda not the way I'd planned to get a rise out of my baby brother."

Marko looked as if he was about to say something but David shot him a look, "Let's head out, boys. Gotta get going." He stated, looking at Paul and Marko. And just as suddenly as they'd arrived, they left in the same fashion...in a flash of rushing wind, and the sound of roaring motorcycles.

Sam wasn't too sure he hadn't been on the verge of wetting the bed, then and there...His brother was a shit-sucking vampire and they all slept together...and they all had invites to his house. Fuck. And the way David had looked at those other guys...Sam was smart enough to read between the lines, even if his brother wasn't.

"Jesus Christ, Mike," he shook his head. But he supposed that wasn't nearly as bad as eating people…

* * *

David led the way back into their sleeping area, stretching and kicking off his boots and socks. It was kind of freeing every morning to just relax and let the monster sleep. Marko was the first one up to their perch, as always, sometimes David wondered if he liked sleeping more than being awake. All it took was one look at him during the night to realize that wasn't the case. Sleeping was purely instinctual, it should be easy for Michael to hop up there without much prompting. Getting him into the right spot on the other hand might be interesting. Paul and Dwayne were up next while David waited for Michael to kick off his shoes, he'd have to show the fledgling exactly where his spot was.

"Morning's coming, best to settle in before then."

Michael slowly knelt down to take off his sneakers, even going through the pointless hassle of untying them, as worn as they were. Probably fall to pieces pretty soon, judging by the looks of them. "Weird…" He said quietly as he set them aside and stood up. "Last time I was in here, I had a stake…"

David chuckled softly, "And now you're sleeping here." He hopped up into his spot, leaving room for Michael beside him, "Come on up." He motioned to the spot. It was likely that Michael would curl closer to him over the course of the day. Being close to your pack, specifically your pack leader, was an inborn trait that wouldn't be denied. And there was no doubt all of the hefty doses of David's blood Michael had gotten, made that need that much stronger.

"So...I just fly up there? How do you not get headaches hanging like that?" Michael called from down below.

"Just let yourself go, don't think about it." David called back, rolling his eyes, "Now, get up here."

"Wow, I feel so special, a spot right by the king himself…" Michael remarked sarcastically when he finally managed to find his way to the perch.

Marko snickered softly, "Newbies get the best spots."

Paul grinned, "Marko...bet if some wannabe hunters came in here right now, you'd be the first one they tried to ice, huh?"

"What makes you say that? Bet they'd go after your rocker ass first." He scoffed.

"You look like the easiest target," Dwayne remarked logically. "You're small. Close to that railing over there…"

"I was wondering about that…" Michael yawned, "it's like we're sleeping right by a ladder. Easy targets, aren't we?"

"Keep meaning to have it removed, kinda got used to this spot. Maybe one of you can do it tomorrow." David yawned, "Sleep."

They all liked being close to their leader, Michael just hadn't learned all the benefits that went along with that. Killing? That was the easy part. Learning to really accept how different they actually were now, with their humanity gone...they all had growing pains with that one. But it was a fun ride.


	9. Braking Bets

"Sam, have you seen your brother anywhere? It's a school day, and his bike isn't outside," Lucy asked tiredly as she pushed open her youngest son's room, not even pausing to give him privacy while he was getting dressed.

"Moooom!" He whined, grabbing his shirt and covering himself, "I dunno, haven't seen him, bet he's out with those friends of his."

She sighed, "well, I guess he's old enough by now to make his own choices…" then she looked back at Sam, "I'm your mother, honey; I've seen it more times than you can count."

"Yeah, well, doesn't mean you need to now!" Of course he really knew what had happened to Michael but Michael's threat was still fresh in his mind. He wasn't _entirely_ convinced yet his brother wouldn't eat him if he got too mad, either.

"Has he talked to you at all lately, Sam?" She stepped further into the room, closing it behind her as she knelt to give a tussle to Nanook's coat while he crossed the room. "I know this move was tough on you both, and I know your brother has been sleeping a lot. He told me there was a girl back in Phoenix. You know, I had no idea he was seeing anyone before we left…"

Oh boy. She was about to go into one of her chatty moments...he'd be lucky if he made it to class on time.

"Nope, didn't know, can we get going? I don't wanna be late for school." That was about the only way to get out of this with his sanity intact.

"Do you want some orange juice or toast before we leave? We can talk while I drive you to school. If there's anything that's been bothering you both, you know you can talk to me." She leveled him with a very serious expression. "Depression runs in the family, sweetheart. It's okay if you're feeling sad."

"I'm fine, mom, honest, let's just get going." He wasn't fine, not with Michael a shit-sucker and now he had to hide it from her too. All these secrets were stressful.

* * *

David and the boys leaned back against the roof of the movie theater, watching as all the little 'ants' below parked their cars. Tonight they were going to introduce Michael to the wonders of playing with humanity. Of course they went to Luna Bay, they didn't fuck with the locals...usually. For the most part, they tried to keep that kind of behavior to setting 'examples', and reminding people why it was best to just ignore them when they could.

"Now we wait, gotta make sure they're all in before we get ready for the race." David explained to Michael, waiting for the last stragglers to get inside.

Marko grinned, "This is one of the best games ever. You'll love it."

"Seems like we're just shooting fish in a barrel….or being dicks," Michael remarked, glancing about at the playing field.

Paul clapped his hands together once, "All in boys! Pick your steed!" He was the first one off the roof and into the parking lot cackling as he flicked a spent joint to the ground.

David shook his head, "Come with me, Michael, I'll show you what you need to do." He hopped down, spotting the car he wanted. Michael followed, though he was still dubious about this whole game. Granted, being an asshole seemed like it kind of went hand in hand with being a predator, he supposed.

The bleach blond made his way over to a brand new, cherry red, Camero. He whistled softly, sliding underneath, waiting for Michael to join him, tugging on the brake line. The younger vampire crawled beneath the car with him, curious as he watched David set to work.

"Is it just a lottery, or do you just pick the cars you like?" He asked curiously, feeling a pang of regret that a nice piece like this was about to probably get totaled. Or at least seriously dented.

"I tend to pick ones I like, Paul and Marko work off a lottery I think." He cut through the brake line, "Cars like this are the most fun, most likely to win, but you can pick whatever you'd like. If you wanna bet on a piece of shit car, that's totally up to you." He slid back out, "Name of the game is how far they get before fucking up their ride. Since they tend to leave at different times we gotta time them. Last time we played I won with three seconds."

Michael quirked an eyebrow.

"Horny teens," David supplied helpfully.

"Right…" The brunette slowly crawled out from beneath the car, climbing to his feet and dusting off his jeans. "Any ground rules? Just the brake lines, anything off limits?" His eyes scanned the parking lot. He was pretty sure he saw an old lady pull in somewhere. Slow reaction time seemed to make sense in his mind…

"Just the brake lines. We can't interfere or freak them out. What were you thinking?"

"Thought it might be funny to pin the accelerator down with something. Might get lucky and they start the car before they notice it," Michael answered, eyes settling on something so much more satisfying than a little old lady's trash-heap. A pick-up truck. That one would make a nice mess…"any bonus points if they take out someone else's in the process?"

"Nope, can't pin it down, just the brakes. Bonus points for damage done. So to the scenery, other cars, but we can't do anything to influence it. So gotta let it play out, if you don't, that's cheating, and you automatically lose."

"Holy fuck, momma! Got me a buggie with a dog in the back…" Marko shouted, laughing. "This one's gonna be _good…"_

"Go, pick."

Michael looked at David thoughtfully, "so this is what you call a good Friday night, huh?"

He shrugged, "At least a decent one. Got all kinds of games, this is just one of 'em."

Paul popped out from under an old blue Pinto, "Bet mine's gonna explode before it gets out of the lot."

"Mini van," Dwayne stated curtly as he leaned against his choice, "family of six."

"Collateral damage." David nodded in understanding, "Go pick, Michael before the movie's over."

Giving David a silent two-fingered salute, Michael strode towards the most un-imposing car out of them all. A mini mayfair. Chipped paint. Rusted splotches on the hood. A missing passenger side mirror...it had seen better days. But he had an ace up his sleeve, he thought with a private little smirk as he got to work. This driver looked just like his dad. A drunk. Brakes or not, he was bound to get into an accident anyway...

They all settled back onto the roof, watching and waiting as the movie goers came out to their cars. The first one out was Marko's target, toting a cup and a bucket of popcorn. He wasn't paying attention when he got in. Too focused on the dog in the backseat as he made his turn from his parking space. Marko grinned, looking excited as the man swerved, speeding up as he spun out. His car crashing into a tree.

Dwayne's van came next, the parents trying to corral their kids into the back. Didn't make it more than ten feet before the dad backed up and slammed right into the car behind them.

"So far Dwayne gets fastest but Marko has the most damage." David leaned back, lighting up a cigarette.

"So...who's in the lead right now?" Michael glanced over at them. They all shrugged noncommittally.

"More about the journey, isn't it?" Paul snickered.

"Or lack thereof…" Dwayne picked a bit of lint off of his jacket and flicked it off the roof.

They all laughed as David's mark went next. The driver and his girlfriend sliding into the car. She was immediately ducking down into his lap.

"Damn, she doesn't waste time, does she?" Paul grinned.

The guy gave Dwayne's van the finger as he sped out of the parking lot. Surprisingly they made it further than Marko's but the wreck was fantastic. The car flipped four times before coming to rest on its side. One good (or bad) turn deserved a round of applause. Even Michael was beginning to get into it now.

"Best looking crash, David won that one, I don't think we're gonna top that." Paul looked down at his chosen car. The driver in question was standing right outside of his vehicle, looking agape at the disaster around him, before he dashed back into the building.

"Fuck...got a squealer...there's always one god damn asshole who calls the cops!" Paul shouted, thumping his fist against the roof.

In the meantime, Michael's drunk came stumbling out, shouldering into the squealer as he headed for his car. He hit four other cars just pulling out, and even with the disaster he left behind, he decided to pull a hit and run...out of the parking lot, down the street, over a squirrel, swerving back and forth in the sparse traffic, sending other cars careening into each other as they tried to avoid him, until he magnificently drove head-on through the front of a gas station...and right into the poor clerk mopping the floor of the local AMPM. The driver, alas, did not survive. They'd have a lot more to mop up when the police got there later than just a spilt icee.

"And that...is why you always wear a seatbelt," Michael said smugly as he leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Beginner's luck." Paul was obviously the loser in this game, his guy didn't even get behind the wheel.

David clapped their newest member on the back, "Very nice, too bad he didn't hit a gas pump."

"Do I win anything?" Michael asked, glancing around at the others, still grinning. Okay, so maybe this definitely made them all assholes, but he seriously doubted anyone down below would have preferred being dinner anyway.

"Well," David glanced at Paul, "loser tends to have to pay up. What do you want for winning?"

Michael looked thoughtful, and Paul looked thoroughly irritated. Made him wonder how often he ended up on the losing side of things. "Oh...I got a good one...pick some dumbass on the boardwalk, gotta be a dude too...and try to have a week-long love affair with him. I'm talking poetry, roses, chocolates...the works." He paused. "Or ride bitch with Marko for a week...take your pick."

Paul grumbled, "I'll ride bitch." Sure, male, female, it didn't matter to him but a week long love affair with a human? No way.

"No…" Michael shook his head, "you picked too quickly. I think I want you to do the other one."

Paul looked affronted, "You gave me a choice! I chose! You can't go back on that now!"

"It's not losing if you actually _want_ to do it," Michael retorted. He was enjoying this.

"I'm fine with it, Paulie. Don't worry...you can ride bitch with me too, if you want to do both," Marko laughed.

"Fuck you guys. I'm not fucking doing some love affair with dinner." He growled, angry.

"You had me wear a bikini thirty years ago, douchebag. You're doing it," Dwayne growled right back at him, giving Paul a threatening glare.

Paul growled back, snarling at Michael, "Fine, assholes."

David shook his head, "Behave yourself, Paul." He stated firmly.

"You can eat him when you're done, if that helps," Michael added with a shrug.

"Don't be a buzz kill, Pauly." Marko rolled his eyes, "We can pick you out a good one. Let's go find something to eat, I'm hungry."

* * *

Sam picked at his food, staring at his plate. He didn't want to be here today. One of the girls, Erica, he thought her name was, came over to him. He looked up at her with a sigh.

"What?" He ground out.

"So, what happened to your brother? He missing?" She snapped her gum at him. She said it so casually, like she was asking him about the weather. But from what he'd learned, maybe people just went missing _that_ often around here.

"He dropped out," Sam replied, frowning up at her. "And I'd say stay away from him if you see him around anywhere. He's not your type."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Of course he's my type, idiot, what do you know?" She put a hand on her hip.

"Look…" Sam leaned towards her, "I know what I'm talking about, okay? He's my brother. Maybe you're his type...all girls are." He paused, unsure what else to say besides something he knew would probably drive her away, "and boys. Everyone is his type…" He was all but saying outright that his brother was a shit-sucker. And if she got the wrong idea, maybe that would work too.

She scoffed, "Whatever." She turned on her heels and strode off, hips swaying. Sam couldn't honestly say he didn't like watching her leave.

As he was about to finally stop picking at his food and eat he found himself boxed in by three of the biggest guys in school. The kinds of douchebags Mike would've dealt with for him back in Phoenix.

"Can I help you?" Sam asked, lowering his fork slowly. Nobody was going to leave him to his lunch in peace today, apparently. And Edgar and Alan were in the principal's office right now.

"Yeah, come for protection payments. Now that big brother's gone, it's time to pay up."

"Who are you, the milk money mafia? Screw you," Sam snapped back, giving them his most intimidating sneer, mouth hanging open and eyebrows lowered. He'd practiced it in front of the mirror plenty of times. Even if Mike usually gave him a noogy when he tried it on him, that didn't mean he couldn't be intimidating.

They laughed, one of them grabbing him by the back of his favorite shirt, "I think it's time to show you what you have to look forward to." He dragged him across the cafeteria towards one of the big trash cans.

"Let me go, ass-monkey!" Sam shouted, kicking and throwing his arms out. Swinging at air. The bagginess of his shirt didn't give him much support to work with. Who would have thought he'd end up a literal fashion 'victim'?

One of the others pulled the top off the can, "Any last words?" He questioned as the one holding him picked him up.

"Yeah. You can eat snot-covered donkey pubes, dick-weed!" Sam replied, managing to at least nail one of them in the balls with a mean kick before he was sent head-first into the trash.


	10. The Bullies

"What about that one?" Marko pointed to a large man trundling by in a pair of shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination, with a burger in one fist and a candy bar in the other, "bet he'd appreciate the chocolates."

David shook his head, "Gotta make it someone Paul would actually be attracted to, you know what happens if he's not, never turns out well."

Michael glanced over at Paul, "so you _like_ dudes? That kinda takes some of the fun out of this..."

Paul shrugged, "Don't really care anymore, pleasure is pleasure, food is food, but I like chicks a lot better."

"You like blondes, right? Or were you a cane-chaser? I don't remember…" Dwayne scratched his chin, squinting hard at a middle-aged carnie looking after the teacup ride. Grizzly, but a little less unappealing than Marko's suggestion.

"Red heads, all the way." He made a face toward the carnie, "But blonde is better."

Michael gave David a sidelong glance as he leaned against his own bike, arms crossed. He was pretty sure no matter who they picked, David was probably going to get the final say in whether or not that was going to be Paul's target. So...were they all as open about their options as Paul, he wondered? Kinda made him think about what Dwayne had said the other night to his brother. He wasn't sure what to think about that, but he'd keep it to himself for now. He had a lot of other problems to deal with learning about than 'expanding his horizons' in quite that way. He supposed it explained why they didn't seem too bothered not having any chicks in the group, if gender really didn't play into it for the rest of them, either.

David looked thoughtful, finally settling on a decent looking blonde, surfer, would be hard but not impossible, at least he wasn't a surf nazi, "That one." He pointed. Paul didn't look happy, but at least he didn't look as irritated as he had at Marko's idea.

"So all I gotta do is follow him around and do some smooching for a week?" He snorted, "makes it funner when I chow down later anyway. He won't even see it coming..."

"What, you think just one look from you and he'll be head over heels? The dude's clearly not into guys." Dwayne smirked, shaking his head.

"Didn't make a difference for Davey…" Paul mumbled under his breath.

Marko let out a snort, "Yeah, you're not David though. Hell, he reeled all of us in, you're just not on his level."

David chuckled softly, "Tomorrow night you can get started, tonight, I think we need to pay Michael's mom a visit. Bet she's worried."

Michael flinched, "she's going to tear me a new one…" he bemoaned, sounding far more the part of a recalcitrant teenager than a bloodthirsty killer. But putting off the visit would only make things worse for him in the long run.

"Let's get going." David was the first one on his bike, revving the engine while he waited for the others to get with the program.

It didn't take them long to get there, not with the speeds they tended to go, though Michael's bike probably wouldn't be able to take the kind of punishment they dealt out forever. They'd have to get him a new one at some point but that was a problem for another day. Maybe even another year.

David looked over at the house, scowling slightly, "Is that your brother?" It didn't really look like him, at least not the clothes.

"Dude, at least he's not a fashion victim anymore?" Marko shot back.

The dork was standing on the patio practicing miserably pitiful karate chops...and wasn't wearing his usual colorful ensemble, no, he was wearing what could only be Michael's clothes. They were too loose, for one. And Michael recognized the Sex Pistols t-shirt he'd shoved in the back of his closet after he broke up with Patty. The only thing he was wearing that seemed to fit...figured he'd only be able to wear a girl's shirt.

"Mike, he's been in your closet." Paul laughed, "Fuck, man, this is hilarious, he touched your stuff after you told him not to."

Michael climbed off of his bike with a sigh, "he's gonna get it…" He looked at them all, "you mind hanging out here? Don't think my mom's gonna be too hot on company right now, after what I'm about to tell her."

David motioned toward the house, "Gonna tell her the truth?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Nope. Not if I can help it." Michael replied, striding off across the lawn with his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. But first thing was first...he was going to have a talk with his little brother.

Paul threw his head back, "was hoping for some screaming tonight…" He sighed. "Can't keep the dirty little secret forever, can he?"

David shook his head, "Nope, we'll see how long it lasts."

Sam's eyes went wide as he saw Michael approaching him, he swallowed hard, eyes huge, "M-Mike? What're you doing here?"

"I was gonna come tell mom I'm not dead. What did I tell you about going through my stuff, Sam?" Michael growled at him. Actually _growled._ Like he was some kind of animal.

He whimpered softly and that's when Michael noticed the black eye, "Because you weren't here! I thought maybe if I got tough they'd leave me alone."

Michael narrowed his eyes, hand lashing out in an instant to grab Sam by the back of the neck and pull him closer so he could inspect the damage, "what do they look like?" He demanded, glaring at him. "I want their names and where the stupid fucks live."

"I'm not gonna let you kill them." He stood firm but Michael could smell the fear coming off of him. He drew back, slowly releasing his little brother's neck.

"Sammy, if you don't want them dead...I promise I won't _directly_ harm them." He said calmly. "But _nobody_ messes with my little brother, alright? Even if I'm a 'shit-sucker', that's not fucking changing."

He looked away, "Ryan, Jake, and Carl." He grumbled softly, "Football players, your kind of guys."

"You know damn well I was never a bully, Sammy."

"I'm know, but...they were like your buddies were before you got them to leave me alone."

Michael sighed, "Ryan. Jake. Carl. Alright, I can work with that. Give us a few days, and you'll never have to deal with those dicks again." He paused. "But you'd better stay out of my shit from now on, you got that? No more warnings. That WILL become a permanent bald spot on your head."

Sam glared at him, "Why don't you just take your shit? It's not like you're staying here."

He shrugged, "the place we live is gonna get pretty damp when the weather gets bad. I don't want mildew on my stuff. Plus...gives me a reason to give you a tough time, huh?" He punched Sam in the shoulder with a laugh and strode by him into the house, pausing in the doorstep, "you don't gotta invite me in, Sammy. But I'd appreciate it one of these days."

"Asshole." He grumbled, "Not getting an invite, none of you shit-suckers are." He didn't know Mike had already had them come inside when he was still 'human'. But as much as his brother had just threatened him tonight, it did make Sam feel...a little safer around him. Like maybe Michael really was still in there, in some small way. The part that cared about him enough not to eat him anyway. And at least he was about to get his ass chewed out by mom.

* * *

"So, I'm sorry, I have a little trouble understanding this...you've been slowly moving out for the past month, and now that you spent a day at school, you decided to make it permanent? Michael, your room is full of your things! Why couldn't you have just told me the last time you left, instead of leaving me worried sick for three days about whether or not you'd gotten yourself killed?" Lucy wasn't taking Michael's half-truth very well. But he seriously doubted she'd cope very well with the real story.

He shrugged noncommittally, sitting down at the table, drawing invisible circles with his nail on an empty plate. "I didn't want to freak you out, mom."

"And what do you think I'm doing right now, mister?!"

"Freaking out. Exactly. I knew this would happen."

She gave a sigh of exasperation as she grabbed his plate and marched towards the stove where she'd been heating up leftovers, despite his protests that he wasn't hungry. He could _smell_ the garlic in her spaghetti sauce. He didn't think it would hurt him, despite some of the odd little 'facts' in Sam's dumb comics, but it was still pretty pungent.

"You think maybe I'm freaking out because you waited so long, Michael?"

He glanced up at Lucy while she ladled on the food, "I'm a grown man. I'll say I'm sorry if that's what you want to hear, but I'm not." There didn't seem much sense in lying. Yeah, maybe he was sorry he'd met the boys, on some level, but that was mainly just his lingering regrets and humanity nagging him. That's really all it did now. It wasn't even strong enough to do anything but tell him how he _would_ have felt, if he was still alive. Even dealing with Lucy or Sam, his strongest urge was to keep them alive because they _belonged_ to him _._ Soothing their sore feelings didn't really factor into it.

The moment Michael left, grandpa came walking in, "It's good he left." He stated, watching him go.

Lucy glared down at the untouched plate of food Michael had left behind, and then rounded on her father, "you knew about this, didn't you?"

"I had a feeling." He went to the fridge, pulling out a small flask hidden in the back, "He needs to grow up, it's better for him this way."

"I'm not upset he moved out, I'm upset _this_ is how I had to find out." She was growing more and more flustered. What was it with the men in her family and their inability to think things through before they acted? Or consult with her?

Michael lingered outside on the porch, giving his brother a quick once-over, "Sam, go get into some 'normal' clothes, for god's sake. You look even worse in mine," he looked out towards the others parked at the edge of the front lawn, just beyond the gate. "If you want the bullying to stop, hang out after school tomorrow. Figure out a way to get them to follow you...I don't care how you do it, just stall the dumbasses until dark, alright?"

Sam scowled, "Why? That's stupid!"

He leveled his brother with a sardonic half-smirk, "...I can't do anything if I don't seem them first. Kinda hard to do that when the sun's out, Sammy." He punched him in the shoulder, "see ya later. Don't worry about it...promise I won't bite."

Sam scowled at him, "Fine, but you'd better be there."

Michael snorted as he skipped off of the porch and out into the darkness, "with bells on!" He tossed over his shoulder.

Grandpa stepped outside watching as he left, "Lucy's mad."

Sam cringed, "so Mike told her? And she's not screaming her head off?"

"He didn't tell her what he is. Small blessings I suppose." He took a drink of his flask.

"Well, he didn't try and eat us yet." Sam mumbled, leaning against the side of the house as the bike engines roared to life and the Lost Boys tore off. "You think he's gonna change his mind about that, grandpa? Swing by for a late-night snack later?"

He looked off into the dark, "Honestly? I don't know but the fact he hasn't tried anything is a good sign."

"He talks like he's still Mike…kinda acts like he's the same when he's not doing freaky vampire shit outside my window, too."

"We'll keep an eye on him but don't go inviting him in, hear me?" He pointed his flask at him as he spoke.

"I wasn't gonna," Sam replied, looking away. Okay...maybe he'd been thinking about it, but he hadn't _done_ it yet. "What if like...he asks in a month, and he still hasn't chomped down on me, huh? Can I let him in, then?"

He shook his head, "They're crafty creatures, he might be trying to trick us, wait for the right moment before ripping our throats out."

"He's still Michael, grandpa. He wouldn't do that," Sam insisted, shaking his head. He just couldn't believe grandpa's theory. Not without some kind of evidence. No matter what, they were still brothers. And what reason did he have to just lead them on? He'd gotten Sam worked up enough already when he was pow-wowing with the other shit-suckers right outside his bedroom window. They could've easily killed him and the rest of the household then and there…

"We'll see." He stated but it sounded like he'd already made up his mind.

* * *

David raised an eyebrow, looking at Michael, "You want us to what?" He couldn't be serious, he wanted them to go find some bullies and scare the shit out of them. Well, it could be fun...but he wasn't going to tell Michael that yet.

"I just want to make sure they don't fuck with Sam anymore. He didn't want me to kill them, so I figured...I dunno, we could scare them a bit," Michael shrugged, leaning against the side of the couch.

David glanced at Dwayne and the others, "What do you think, boys? Want to go scare a few kids into submission?"

"Sounds fun," Dwayne nodded. "Probably be a pretty good pick-me-up for Paul before he goes flirting with meat-bags."

David looked thoughtful, of course he had the final say in this, "Alright, we can go mess with these bullies, might be fun. You've convinced me."

Michael smirked at him, "didn't take much, did it?"

"This time? Not much, next time? Might be a lot more."

Marko looked up from petting one of his pigeons by the fountain, "unless they're screamers. Always fun to mess with a screamer…"

Their leader hopped to his feet, stretching, "Let's head out before little Sammy gets the shit beat out of him."

"How do you think he managed to keep them there this long?" Paul wondered aloud, grinning as they left the hotel.

"Good question, how fast can he run?" Marko asked, looking at Michael.

"When he's got a good reason? Pretty fucking fast," the brunette laughed. "Pretty good a climbing trees, too…"

"So, either he's up in a tree somewhere or running his brightly colored ass off." David chuckled, picturing it in his head, "Only one way to find out." He started his bike, grinning at the others, this could be fun, he was kind of looking forward to it.

* * *

The parking lot was nearly empty when they finally pulled in and to make matters even more interesting, Sam was nowhere to be seen. Marko gnawed on his glove, "Think he decided to just bail?"

"Nah. He's too scared of these guys to put this off. There's no way in hell Sam'd ever wear normal clothes unless it was serious...they're around here somewhere," Michael frowned, scanning their surroundings.

David looked at Dwayne, "Find him." He stated, Dwayne was the best at finding people, made it nice if their prey tried to get away. Plus, it shouldn't be too hard to track the one person around here who was probably sweating fear at this point. Dwayne closed his eyes and tipped his head back, taking in a deep breath, before he was off, heading toward the gym.

"So, pinned under the bleachers or being shoved into a locker, they do shit like that, don't they?" Paul asked, "Or is that only in the movies."

"I think that's only in the movies." Marko replied, "Then again, I have no idea, never went to high school, things were a little different back then, ya know?"

"He outgrew lockers year before last," Michael shook his head. "Didn't go to junior high with him, but had to pick him up often enough to figure that much out."

Dwayne pushed open the double doors leading inside. They'd found him alright and it didn't look like he was doing so well either. He was hanging on tight to a rope hanging from the ceiling, to top it off the rope below him had been cut off so if he wanted down there was no choice but to fall. Three of the biggest teenagers David had ever seen were in a circle below him, like sharks waiting for a meal.

"Looks like we found little Sammy." David chuckled softly, looking at them.

"Hey, any of you bitches wanna party? Or is this a strictly three-on one thing?" Paul called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound across the gym. Marko elbowed him in the ribs.

"You just ruined Davey's entrance...he's gonna beat your ass later…" Marko snickered, biting on the thumb of his glove and glancing over at their leader.

David glared at Paul as he stepped forward, "Gentlemen, seems you've got him on the ropes. Now, three against one, how is that fair? He's such a scrawny thing too." He practically stalked toward them, radiating 'predator'. The three teens drew away a little bit, but what looked like the king ape of the trio seemed to be planning something...you could almost hear the boulders slowly rolling in his brain.

Sam took a deep breath, continuing to cling to the rope as he watched them below, terrified of falling, and even more terrified he was going to have to witness a bloodbath right before he did.

"So, how about we even this out a little bit? You're bigger than us, so three on five is fair, we won't even count the runt on the rope." David continued, "What do you say, boys? Wanna play?"

"You don't go to this school," the leader told David, "stay out of our business!"

Sam very nearly slipped, "Mike! Little help?!"

David chuckled softly, "See, Michael here still technically does and since it's his little brother, well, figured we could all have a nice little pow-wow and talk things out." He stood toe to toe with the leader, smiling darkly at him.

"Uh...Jake...maybe we should go…" One of the boys suggested behind him.

"Quiet, Ryan." Jake snapped back at him, not taking his eyes off of David. "You think we're scared of you, just cause you wear black and ride a pretty tryke?" He sneered, though there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes behind his pathetic bravado.

He chuckled softly in reply, "Oh, I know you're scared. There's no question about that, you've heard the stories, right? The boys who never age, always on the boardwalk, they make people disappear, always there, stay away from them. I think I covered them all, what do you think?"

"They like to hassle tourists?" The third boy piped up helpfully.

"Shut up, Carl!" Jake rounded on him, punching him in the shoulder before turning back to face David and then nervously glance back up at Sam on the rope. "Pussy's not worth our time anyway," he retorted, backing away a little further and preparing to make a hasty exit.

Michael had drawn up behind David by now, along with the others. And he was right there to catch Sam when he slipped. They watched the three boys as they left and each of them thought of at least one thing they couldn't wait to do to them, oh, they were in for the ride of their lives.

"I think we'd better follow them home, what do you think?" Marko asked, eyes still locked on the boys.

Paul grinned, "For sure, gotta find out where they sleep."

"Or _used_ to, anyway," Dwayne smirked sardonically. There was no way those ape-bullies would be getting much sleep in for at least the next month or so, depending on just how much fun the boys got out of them.

"Uh...Mike...you can put me down, now…" Sam frowned up at his brother. No sooner said than done, and he was sprawled at his brother's feet. "Fuck! Asshole!" He sat up, rubbing his sore tailbone.

Michael shrugged, "you said to put you down."

"He was only doing what you said, after all." Marko grinned down at him. And now that the circle of boys was surrounding the poor kid, he was immediately reminded they could easily threaten him too if they wanted.

"Uh...th...thanks…" Sam mumbled, "you can go now…" _and pleasepleaseplease don't kill me…_

"Go run along home, Sam. We'll finish taking care of your little bully problem." David smirked at him infuriatingly, "Be a good little boy and we won't come find you in the middle of the night, sound good?"

He whimpered and nodded, scrambling to his knees and tearing out of the gym the moment Michael moved aside to make room for him.

The brunette watched his little brother go, turning back to David, "you just had to add an extra threat in there, didn't you?"

He shrugged, "It's no fun without an extra threat here and there, as long as you still want them alive they can hang around, no fear from us."

Michael rolled his eyes as they started to head for the exit, "jeeze. I'm glad you didn't want to fuck with me when we met the same way you do with my little brother."

David grinned at him over his shoulder, "Oh, Michael, who said I don't want to fuck with you?" He paused, "And trust me, Sam, not really the fuckable type."

"...Well, now that you've made your opinion about my brother's fuckability, I think I can safely say I'm glad you feel that way," Michael snorted. Then he raised an eyebrow, "wait…" there was something very odd about the way David had paired those two statements together. He decided not to broach the topic further. The topic of his own fuckability really wasn't something Michael even wanted to talk about with David or any of the boys.


	11. Jake

Jake bobbed his head to the tune of Tiffany on his compact bathroom radio, scrubbing his teeth furiously while his shih tzu perched on the toilet lid barking crazily to the tune of 'I Think We're Alone Now'. His only true friend in the world. "Sergeant Pepper-face, what would I do without you?" He asked as he spat out the last of his toothpaste slush and began to gargle with mouthwash. The quarterback with his bunny slippers and ducky pajamas hardly looked even remotely intimidating in the privacy of his bathroom.

When the song ended, and he was finally toting his animal friend into his bedroom, a small brush in his other hand to groom the dog before he went to bed, Jake drew to a stop. He squinted towards his bedroom window...he could swear he saw something moving out there. Maybe it was a bird or something? He was on the second story, anyway.

As he began running the brush through Sergeant Pepper-face's fur he could swear he heard a voice, soft, barely audible, "Asshole." He could swear that's what it said. He paused, listening again for the sound. When nothing happened, he slowly began to brush again, humming to himself.

"You're so smart and cute, Sergeant Pepper-face," he remarked as he set the brush down and reached for his dog's hot pink hair bow on his bedspread.

"Don't you dare put that on me, you son of a bitch." There was that voice again! Whoever was talking was the asshole!

"Cut it out, mom!" Jake shouted at his bedroom door. Drunk bitch was probably trying to play some kind of game with him…"she's a bitch, isn't she, buddy?" He quickly affixed the bow and picked the small dog up until they were face to face so he could nuzzle the shih tzu's snout.

"Listen, you stupid mother fucker...I'm tired of your shit, you hear me?" Sergeant Pepper-face snapped at him, growling softly and yapping as he kicked his legs in the air. Jake's eyes widened in shock, "Let me the fuck go and get this fucking bow off my goddamn head!"

"S-s-s-s-s-s-ssssssergeant Pepper-face?! YOU CAN TALK?!" Jake yelped, lowering his dog to the bed and scooting back a good foot or so, gazing at his foul-mouthed pooch in wonder.

"Yeah, and there's gonna be some changes around here, pencil-dick," the dog lowered his head, marching towards him on tiny paws. Somehow, despite his size, he managed to pull off menacing quite well, "First of all, you're my bitch now, second, I want premium food, like real meat, and last, no more fucking bows!"

Tears began to stream down Jake's face, "Sergeant Pepper-face...this isn't like you!"

The little dog moved closer to him, licking his cheek, "Understand? Be a good boy and say yes, I understand, Sergeant Pepper-face."

Jake was forcefully biting back sobs now, little dribbles of snot bubbling out of his nose, "y-y-yes, I understand, Sergeant Pepper-face!"

There was a sudden banging on his bedroom door, "GOD DAMN IT JAKE, STOP TALKING TO THAT DOG LIKE HE'S A PERSON!"

As he sat there and cried while the dog licked up his tears he could swear he heard laughing outside his window, but there was no one there, right? His dog had stopped talking and was whining softly, pawing at him in concern, but all he could do was sit there and cry, unable to understand why his best friend in the world would say something like that to him.

* * *

As they leaned against their bikes, Michael watched Paul make his long trek towards his target, who was currently shopping for kitschy shark tooth necklaces at a cheap jewelry stall. He would have felt guilty about their little game at that idiot's house, but he reminded himself he'd been responsible for one of the nastiest accidents Luna Bay had seen since the 1960s...so if that didn't make him feel a lick of regret, this didn't either.

Paul looked back at them hopefully but David just shook his head. He sighed, going up to the guy, "Hey, they charge way too much." This was way different than picking up a meal, he had to think of this a little differently. Wasn't easy. Especially when the guy gave him a quick once-over and went back to picking at the necklaces. Well, at least he swung in the right direction. That would make this a lot faster…

"New in town?" He pressed.

"You smell like a drowned rat. Leave me alone."

Paul growled softly, "You don't smell too great yourself. Like seaweed but you're way too hot to hang with the surf nazis."

The blonde lowered his necklace of choice with a sigh, "listen, I just got out of a bad relationship. I'm flattered, really-"

"Hey man, no pressure, just hang out." He held his hands up, "Don't need to worry about me copping a feel, I'll be the perfect gentleman."

"Oh yeah?" He rolled his eyes, "tell you what...buy me a new board, and we'll talk." He slapped a couple of bucks into the vendor's shaking hand and then glanced back at Paul, "otherwise...not interested."

Paul raised an eyebrow before strolling over to one of the shops. He eyed the cashier before speaking, "I'm taking this and you're gonna let me." He stated, watching the girl cower back from him.

"Wow...he wants to get this over fast, doesn't he?" Marko grinned, nudging Dwayne's elbow beside him as they watched the scene unfold.

"Wouldn't you?" He replied.

Paul walked back to him, "Paul." He handed the board over, he'd never pay for a board.

"Uh...Peter…" The surfer looked at the board and then back to Paul, eyes wide and disbelieving. He hadn't actually _meant_ it…"you don't take no for an answer, do you?"

Paul grinned, "Nope, I'm stubborn like that."

"Good, you can buy me dinner," the surfer replied with a smile. The kind of smile all gold-diggers were born with, as he marched off, toting his brand new board ahead of him.

"How long you think he'll be before he comes back bitching?" Michael asked, turning to David with a raised eyebrow. He'd been with a few girls just like that guy...granted, they were a lot prettier, and they had more than one other dude following them around with empty pockets.

David shook his head, "I give him a half hour, max, he's good at complaining and hates gold diggers."

"Not that it matters, usually takes him five minutes to get down to eating someone anyway," Marko rolled his eyes.

"Except he can't this time." Dwayne stated, "Not for a week."

Paul was tempted to use their fear of them to get a free meal for the ass-hat he was sitting across from but no, he had to do this right. Yeah, he wasn't going to last. Especially when the bastard started lecturing him about exactly what was wrong with every single element of his wardrobe, his hair, even the way he smiled. All while he still happily munched away on the hot dog Paul had spent his own hard-stolen stash cash on. Ten minutes, only ten minutes had gone by. He couldn't take it much longer.

"Hey, how about we meet up tomorrow night." Paul stated, man, he wanted to rip his throat out and take a blood shower.

"Yeah, sure," Peter sighed, wiping at his mouth with a paper napkin, "if you think you're _man_ enough for me, Paul." He smirked.

"Trust me, I'm more than man enough." He got to his feet, heading back to the boys.

"Less than thirty." David said with a smirk as Paul walked back to them. The rocker glared daggers at Michael, right before Dwayne gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

"I think you'd make a good couple. Peter and Paul...has a nice ring to it." Dwayne chuckled.

"Where's Mary?" Marko said with a grin.

"She hung around Peter too long and hung herself," Paul grumbled.

David clapped him on the shoulder, "Tomorrow night you can fuck with the bully." Somehow, Paul didn't seem to be cheered up too much. He had a lot of anger building up right now.

* * *

After a quick meal, the boys had decided to head home. They hadn't been back more than an hour before Marko noticed something odd. Dwayne had disappeared. Come to think of it, Paul had too.

"Hey, you see where they went?" He propped himself up on his elbows from his position on the side of the fountain.

David glanced toward the back, "I think Paul was being a dick, Dwayne followed him back. Why?" He raised an eyebrow, "You looking for him?"

Marko had a mischievous little twinkle in his eyes as he sat up completely and pulled his jacket off, "gotta fix a patch...think it's falling off, actually. Hey, Mikey!" He called out. Michael was flipping through an auto magazine on the couch. He slowly lowered it and glanced over at the smaller vampire curiously.

"Why don't you go see where they went, huh?" Marko glanced back over at David, smiling pleasantly. As pleasantly as he could muster.

David scowled at him, wasn't about to interrupt, was curious what kind of reaction Michael was going to have to what was going on back there. Judging by how long it had been, neither of them had any doubts as to what it was, either.

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Michael asked him, setting the magazine aside.

"Jacket...remember?" Marko lifted up his prized possession, "don't wanna go to bed and have to worry about it later. Right, Davey?"

David made a noncommittal noise, "Do what you want, totally up to you if you want to go find them." He didn't want Michael to blame him for what he was about to witness.

"Stupid reason, Marko." Michael stood up, "but I guess I could stretch my legs…" He glanced over at David, peering at him thoughtfully and trying to pick up on any indicators that this was going to be some stupid prank they'd been planning at his expense. But he was met with a fairly bored expression. That was good enough, he supposed. So he trailed out of the lobby and began to explore. Honestly, he hadn't gotten a chance to do it yet anyway, so he might as well start now.

Didn't look like much of a hotel. Sometimes it looked like even less of one. Then he'd find himself leaping over a small rift or ducking under several rotting beams covered in webbing, and parts of the place looked almost nice. Just old. Under the must and the stench of rot, or a meal buried lazily by one of the boys when they didn't want to bother with a fire or carrying it outside, Michael finally seemed to pick up their scent. Eventually, their sounds followed.

He paused mid-step, frowning. Were they fighting? Why would they go this far to do that? What could've pissed them both off enough to have them going at each other's throats? Paul had been mad when they came home, sure, but not _that_ mad.

"Paul?" Michael called out. For a moment, the sounds stopped. Then he heard a stream of curses, and they continued.

"...Dwayne?" He ducked his head low, approaching what used to be a doorway. "What's-"

There are times when you see something so surprising, or maybe even so _un_ surprising, that your brain just sort of shuts down for a good few seconds and has to do a full reboot in order to try and process it. That was exactly how Michael felt when he got more than a good (or terrible) eyeful of Dwayne and Paul...oh god. The dark haired vampire had the rocker pinned, wouldn't let him move even an inch as he snapped his hips forward, dominating him, reminding him of his place.

He wasn't sure what to do, right then. He definitely wasn't going to call attention to his presence, that was for damn sure. Fuck, that didn't even look...it just looked _painful_. He slowly backed out of sight, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Oddly enough, he wasn't entirely disgusted. Not aroused by any means...but more indifferent, beyond the general feeling he never wanted to get on Dwayne's bad side, apparently. It did also remind him that they didn't really have any chicks in their pack, either. So...what, would he have to just...if he ever wanted to…? Nope. Not quite that horny yet, he decided as he turned back the way he had come, only to nearly stumble into David.

"Find them?" He questioned, blue eyes locked on his.

Michael uncrossed his arms and looked at David, his breath hitching slightly. He'd been so distracted, he hadn't realized he'd been followed. Since he'd been so attuned to his senses trying to track Paul and Dwayne, he should've noticed David's, too...funny thing, he actually smelled pretty good, now that Michael thought about it. He frowned and shook his head, "yeah. I found them alright. Bet you knew what they were doing, too, didn't you?"

"I had an idea, couldn't be totally sure though." He paused briefly, "Sex is...not always about pleasure or a relationship, sex is about dominance and sometimes just plain fun." He gave him a half grin, "You okay with all this?" He stepped closer to him, "Want to talk about it?"

"I...guess I was kinda beginning to get some kind of idea about that," Michael replied quietly.

"Sex between us can be the most awesome sex you've ever had." He glanced toward where Dwayne and Paul were, "And even though it looks like Paul might be hurting, he's not. Dwayne always takes care of his partners in the end, just has to make sure they know their place first."

Now that just ended up giving him another thought. Fuck it, he had a million questions building up here, not the least of which being how the scent of iron and leather that always seemed to follow David around had gone from being somewhat of a repellant when he was half to the exact opposite. This was just a little too weird for him, right now. "And...do you….?"

"Take care of my partners?" He grinned, licking his lips, "Yes." It was as simple as that. He leaned a little closer to Michael, practically pinning him against the wall as he pressed his mouth close to his fledgling's ear, "don't worry. I'm sure you'll find out when you're ready," he pulled away, giving Michael a quick pat on the cheek and smirking as he turned to leave. "Don't be long. Sun's coming up soon."

Michael stared after him, bewildered. Then he just laughed and began to head towards the lobby. Frankly, whether he was indifferent or intrigued, there was no _way_ he was going to let anyone dominate him. No fucking way.


	12. Carl and Ryan

Carl hummed softly as he washed his hair. He took great pride in it, kept it washed and conditioned, made sure it was silky soft. Girls loved it, it had gotten him more than one date. It was his pride and joy...like the locks of Samson, from his hair came his greatest strength. And of course, it made complete sense to him to immediately reach for his mom's razor to shave just a bit of it back from his forehead. Plus, everyone knows how important it is to any personal hygiene regimen to get rid of your eyebrows at every opportunity.

He sighed in contentment as he dropped the razor to the drain, while soap bubbles and bits of black silken hair rolled around it. The thing was too dull to really do much to his head, so he'd have to grab dad's electric razor kit. Not for a moment did it seem odd to him that he was going to eliminate his luscious mane in an attempt to help maintain it. That part of his brain was on lock-down at the moment.

He stepped out of the shower, humming as he pulled out the electric razor, yes this would do nicely. With that, he began to shave his head. As his shining locks tumbled into the bathroom sink, he was filled more and more with a sense of joy. He would look...incredible tomorrow. But there was something missing, he realized, when he ran a hand over the bald half of his head. He looked in the mirror, definitely something missing. Maybe his mom had something, he needed a splash of color is all. He reached under the sink and pulled out her makeup kit. Rather like an artist, delicately applying paint to canvas, he slowly raised a stick of fire-engine red to his lips...and proceeded to grind it in, until the entire thing was well-caked around, on, and even a little in his mouth. Yes, that was a good start! Next came eyeshadow, green went well with red, right? Once his eyes were thoroughly rimmed in green he put streaks of black mascara under his eyes, much like the grease he used in football. Or on a soldier in a deep jungle setting. Maybe a little of both. But all of this effort would be wasted, if he didn't find a cheerleader to bang...and fast!

He headed upstairs, there had to be one hiding up there, right? It was the only thing that made sense. Cheerleaders were always hiding where you least suspected them. Like pom-pom toting sex ninjas...he had to figure out a plan of _action._ Quietly he pushed the door open to the only place that made sense. The master bedroom. He had to act fast, there was one in bed already, he just had to take advantage of it. Before she used her secret nipple powers to fly out of the room...

"HERE COMES THE LOVE-MONKEY, BABY!" Carl screamed, tossing his head as he took a running jump for the bed.

"WHAT THE FUCK CARL?!"

No! He had been so close! She must have pulled some kind of ninja switch! Clever girl. "Dad! I was trying to catch some action!" He explained, still sitting on top his poor, freaked-out father. Just when his mother slowly trailed into the room from the master bathroom, brushing her teeth. Why couldn't he understand?

"Carl! What're you doing?!" She practically spit out her toothpaste, eyes wide, "Get off him right now young man!" She paused. "What the hell did you do to yourself?!"

Carl squinted, confused as he hastily scrambled off of his irate father, who was more than happy to be free of his clearly deranged son's physical affections. "What do you mea-" he slowly drew his hands up to his head, fear and confusion dawning on him in all their righteous glory.

"It's those drugs, Alma. Got them all over the city these days!" His father shouted, glaring at Carl as he sat up and climbed out of bed to tower over his shorter son. He was a mammoth of a man...the fact that Carl had thought there was a cheerleader sleeping there instead...boggled the poor footballer's mind.

She moved over to stand beside him, "Eric, what should we do? He can't go back to that school! He's in with a bad crowd!"

"I know exactly what we're gonna do," Eric growled. "Get your shit packed _tonight,_ you're gonna go to Sunnybeam Military Academy. Just like your brothers before you! Knew we never shoulda let you stick around here...look how you're turning out, son! Tweaking all over the house, trying to rape your own _father?!"_

"But...I...I swear! I'm not on drugs! Dad, don't do this to me!" He looked pleadingly at his mom, "Please, I don't wanna go to military school."

"You're going." She turned, heading downstairs to get the phone so she could make arrangements.

His father crossed his arms over his chest, "You're not getting out of this one." He stated, "No amount of begging or crying is going to change my mind, now go to your room."

Eric was crying as he went to his room, crawling into bed, curling around his pillow. At least his head was already shaved. Half of it, anyway.

* * *

"You are one sick monkey, Paul," Michael remarked as they headed away from the kid's house.

Paul grinned at him, "All in a night's work. I mean, come on, I really got rid of the bully, he's goin' bye bye."

"Just leaves one more for tomorrow night," Dwayne mused.

"And who should get the honors?" David chuckled softly, "They need to make it a good one, so far we're two for two."

"I don't know how to pull most of those tricks you guys know," Michael shrugged, glancing back at the house.

"Doesn't mean you can't have input!" Marko grinned at him, "If you dream it Davey can probably make it happen."

"I'm not so sure, Marko. I think something a little extra is required for doing such a good job." David glanced at Michael, "I mean, we've done two out of the goodness of our hearts but I'm thinking a little compensation is needed."

Michael looked dubious, "compensation from who?"

"Well, either Sam could pay us back or you could pay the price." David shrugged, "Always a couple options."

Knowing his little brother, all Sam would be able to do was maybe give them a couple of his comics, even _that_ would be like pulling teeth. On the other hand, Michael didn't much like the way David was looking at him right now. "I guess I'll talk to Sammy when we send the third one screaming."

David looked offended, as though Michael didn't trust him. Especially after what he had said the other night, everything was when Michael was ready, "And if he can't pay up?" He questioned, the price would wind up higher if Sam couldn't properly entertain them and he just couldn't see the blonde being that entertaining.

Michael rolled his eyes, "then I guess I'll do it."

Paul grinned, "Davey...do we all get in on this payment plan option, or…?" Yeah, he was still sore about his upcoming rendezvous tonight. And tomorrow. And each subsequent night until the week was finally up.

"It depends, probably not _you_ , you're still serving your sentence." Dwayne stated, "You know the rules, you can't get in on something while you're serving time."

Okay, _now_ they were making Michael a little nervous…

* * *

David leaned back in his chair, watching the hotel lobby like he was a king overseeing his subjects. The pack leader was in a quandary. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about Michael. Oh, there was nothing _wrong_ with him, per say, but he stirred something inside David that he hadn't expected. He knew that the teen was different when he saw him but the more time he spent around him, the more this _need_ grew inside him. He was giving Michael time to come to terms with it, with the lack of a defined sexual orientation. They were pack and no one else could handle sex the way they could. They'd break a human far too easily and vampires from other packs, well, they'd rather kill them than fuck them. Michael, well, maybe he needed a little...push...in the right direction. The payment would have been a good way but no, Michael said he'd get Sam to pay, and that just wouldn't do. He had to think of something and it had to be good.

"5 more days...5 more days of this shit, and Mikey...I'm kicking your ass," Paul grumbled as he glared across the lobby from his position on the ground where he was busy lighting up a joint.

"Hey, I didn't pick him," Michael replied dryly as he tossed a baseball over to Marko on the couch.

Marko caught it, "Nope, that was all Davey." He tossed it back, glancing over at the aforementioned vampire, "Who looks like his brain is broken."

Michael glanced over at David and tossed the baseball in his direction. "Think fast!"

David snarled, barely catching it inches from his face, "Who threw it?" He hissed lowly.

"Whoa, sorry," Michael held up a hand, "my bad." He wasn't sorry at all...he was clearly on the verge of laughter.

David raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you're not sorry, how're you going to repay me for that little throw?" Yes, this could work out just fine.

"You caught it, didn't you?" It was Michael's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Don't see why I should do anything just because you were a little distracted. That was your own fault," he shrugged.

"Oh? Really?" David chuckled softly, getting to his feet and stalking toward him. He leaned close, backing Michael up against the wall, "No, that's not how this works." They were so close they were almost touching. Michael wasn't laughing anymore, in fact, he looked like he was about to go on the defensive.

"Then what do you want, huh? A written letter?" Michael grumbled.

David's lips brushed against his ear, "An invitation."

"...Keep the ball, David," Michael replied quickly. Almost _too_ quickly. He was growing a little uncomfortable with the position David had him in right now.

The ball was placed into his hands, "The ball's in your court." He whispered, giving a soft kiss to the side of his neck before pulling away and strolling off. Yeah, that turned out well. Michael was already absent-mindedly rubbing his neck, while the others looked on and laughed.

* * *

"Well, look at you, Sam. All three of your bullies gone in less than a week...kinda funny, isn't it?" Edgar leaned over the lunch table and glared at the blond suspiciously. "Weird how they all went a little crazy, huh? Even that last one this morning?"

He scowled, "What happened this morning?" He took a bite of his apple, "I heard about the other two, what happened to the last one?"

"Came to school naked. Painted up and down with shitty graffiti…mostly stuff about where to find him and how he takes it," Alan replied darkly, "they had to haul him away from the doors before he even got there…"

"Holy shit!" He paused, "Why're you looking at me like I did it? How the hell could I do it?"

"I dunno," Edgar stabbed his salisbury steak with a plastic fork, "brother's a blood-sucker. Vampires can do all kindsa mind tricks...just seems like a funny coincidence, that's all."

"Yeah, coincidence," Alan agreed.

Edgar yanked the fork out of his steak and pointed it violently in Sam's direction, slimy gravy flying off the end and straight into his face, "you're making deals with the devil, Sam!"

"I didn't do anything! Mike found out, I had nothing to do with it!" He protested, "I got a black eye and he saw it when he came over the other night."

"Coulda said you'd fallen on some stairs," Alan told him, taking a long gulp of milk from his carton and crushing it. "They're gonna come back, and they're gonna expect you to pay for it. Devil never gives you anything for free."

"What the hell am I supposed to pay them with? My Superman #14? They're not gonna take comics."

Edgar lowered his fork and dropped it onto his plate, leaning forward to pat Sam's hand, "stake your brother, Sam. You'll feel better."

"I'm not staking my brother! I bet if he heard you say that he'd make you lunch so let's just drop the staking thing, okay?"

"Didn't hurt to ask," Alan shrugged. "Don't come crying to us the day you've got half your throat missing, that's all I'm saying."

"Dude…" Edgar grunted, turning towards Alan, "I think he'd be dead."

* * *

Peter walked hand-in-hand with Paul down the shoreline, his shoes held tightly in his opposite hand while he giggled and gazed up at the moon. "Tonight was just...perfect…" He took a deep breath. "You know, Paul...this has been an incredible week. When I first met you, I thought…'this guy is an ugly asshole with BO and a tiny dick'..."

Paul raised an eyebrow, "And now?" He questioned, he had to hear it before he decided to eat the guy.

"Well…" Peter drew to a stop, looking down at his feet coyly, "you put up with a lot. I was honestly just trying to get you to leave me alone, and getting some free meals out of it...but you're really stubborn." He looked back up at Paul, "you must really like me."

Paul gave him a lopsided grin, "Oh, yeah, trust me, I'm gonna like you even more in a minute."

Peter looked around, "what? Right here? Right now?!"

"Come on, we're in private, no one's around." He leaned closer to him, as they sank to the ground together, pulling him into his lap at the same time, "It'll be so good." His grin seemed to grow, "Just say yes." He leaned forward, breathing against his throat, man, he couldn't wait to sink his teeth in but it would be more fun if he got 'consent' to do it.

"Well…" Peter breathed harshly, "if we can get my board waxed tonight...sure."

He grinned against his skin, "Won't be the only thing waxed tonight." He drove his fangs in deeply, holding him tight against his chest, growling into his skin as he fed. At first, Peter screamed, but it didn't last too long.

"Wow. 'Won't be the only thing waxed tonight'? Really, Paul?" Dwayne drawled as the boys drew up to him. "You're a regular Wordsworth."

He took one last swallow before pulling back with a grin, blood dripping down his chin, "Yeah, well, I earned this meal, dick." He licked his lips, "Was pretty tasty too, really rewarding."

Michael looked down at the spent body on the ground, "so is this how you're going to do your hunting from now on, then?"

"Fuck no, too much work!"

Marko bobbed on his heels, "I'm tired of following Paulie around. I want to cut loose tonight!" He flashed their leader a pathetic pout, "bowling alley? Bar? Strip club? BONFIRE?! C'mon…"

"Nazis should be taking in their new recruits tonight," Dwayne suggested with a sly smirk. "Could be fun."

"Alright, let's go crash their little party, that good enough for you Marko?"

Marko gave a howl of success, hopping onto Michael's back and smooching his cheek, "aright!" Michael growled at him, shoving the smaller vampire off.

"No piggyback ride, Mikey?" Marko sighed, grabbing at his chest as if he'd been mortally wounded. "Here I thought you cared…"

"No one wants to give you a piggy back ride, you tend to bite your mount." Paul said, licking up the last of the blood.

"Only when their little bitch-asses are going too slow. Davey won't let me use a whip…"

"Yeah because you go power mad with the fucking thing and start beating people when you're not getting a ride. Remember what happened last time you hit me with it?" David asked as they began to walk.

"You ripped my fangs out and made me drink from the bottle for a week," Marko scowled at him. "Wasn't trying to hit you...I couldn't help if you got in the fucking way…"

"Still stands, you hit me with it, four times. That's not an accident."

Michael cringed, "whether you're biting me or using a whip, mother fucker, you stay off of my back."

David chuckled, "Don't think you're gonna dominate him either, he's more likely to pin you down, Marko."

"I dunno…" Paul trailed off, "little imp can be pretty fast sometimes, y'know? Might even be back there and done before you even know what's going on…"

David shook his head, "He'd get off before he could even get _in."_

Marko sputtered, looking offended, "Assholes, at least I can get it up." He glanced at Paul.

"One time! One fucking time."

"Eight," Dwayne corrected quietly.

"Jeeze, I'm beginning to think you guys fuck each other cause you can't get it anywhere else." Michael rolled his eyes.

All eyes turned to him, "Yeah, the eight weren't with us." Dwayne stated, "Humans." He said as if that explained everything, "Not that the rest of us have had any issues."

"I would just like to remind you ladies that those twins we almost picked up before they fell off that cliff would've been perfect...and they were all over me. So there." Paul huffed, striding ahead of them.

Marko scowled, "What do the twins have to do with not being able to get it up?"

"I don't have to do sneak attacks, Marko!" Paul tossed back, "Maybe when we get back tonight I'll show you how it's really done!"

"You stay away from me…" Michael warned Marko with a frown.

"Dude, so unfair, fine, blame the little guy." Marko pouted, going after Paul.

"Don't worry, Michael. I'm positive neither of them are getting near your ass anytime soon." David patted him on the shoulder as they headed down the beach toward a giant bonfire. Dwayne was right, judging by just how big the fire was. They were doing their retarded initiation ritual tonight...plenty of newbies to pick off.

David led the way, strolling closer to the gaggle of nazis, "Evening boys, how's tricks?"

All eyes were suddenly on them. One of the guys operating a stereo churning out a mix of gregorian chants and the beach boys immediately pressed stop. "You don't belong here! This is a sacred gathering!" One of the others shouted, a guy waving a large shark tooth in his hand.

"Oh? Is this your beach? I'm sorry, I don't see your name on it. Wanna write it for me? Oh, but you can't spell, can you?" David grinned, oh, this was just too much fun.

"Our beach. Our waves." The nazis all chanted at once, drawing in closer to each other. Even the newbies, as hesitant as they seemed to chime in, were dumb enough to stick around.

"How many years have we heard that, Marko?" He questioned, glancing at him, "Like cockroaches these guys, they just don't stop."

"Gotta admire that, though. Makes for some good eating," Marko agreed, licking his lips.

"Fragile ecosystem," Dwayne shook his head. "Gotta leave a few around to run home to mommy."

"Alright, alright, whoever wants to run, go now, rebuild, because I can tell you right now, this ain't gonna be pretty."

"Yeah? Ain't pretty for _you!"_ One of them pulled out a small revolver and fired. Time seemed to stand slow for a moment as the bullet hit Michael in the chest. The force of the blow threw him back into the sand, crashing down like a broken rag doll, eyes wide in shock as he drew his hands up to cover the blood pouring out. There was...a lot of it. His shirt and skin had been burned, and fuck...it hurt so much. He could feel his body struggling to pick what to heal first, starting at his heart...but he was losing so much blood, he was beginning to fade out.

Paul, Marko, and Dwayne didn't stand around to make any further jokes. They were on the nazis immediately. No runners tonight. Not anymore.

David snarled, letting out a sound that could only come from a very angry animal. He was by Michael's side in a flash, "Hey, look at me, Michael." David ordered, he didn't bother telling the boys what to do, they already knew, "Fuck." He bit his wrist, holding it to his lips, "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He growled, "Drink." Michael blinked at him, dazed as he lapped at David's blood. It was the best thing for his injury, but he'd still need more soon, "Bring me one of them!" He needed to replenish his own blood to give Michael what he needed.

A dozen thoughts rushed through Michael's mind at that moment, and it was honestly giving him a headache to try and pick any of them out while he drank. On the one hand, David's blood tasted even better right now than it ever had before, and he wasn't sure if it was because his body was practically starved from trying to heal his injury, or if it was because he'd learned to appreciate feeding a lot more now that he was fully turned. He probably wasn't going to die tonight...those comics didn't say anything about regular bullets, from what he recalled. But damn, if he was, if 'guns' had somehow been on the list of vampire weaknesses and everyone else had just forgotten to mention it to him, he really wished he'd taken David up on that offer.

David had drained two of them while Michael continued to drink, his wound slowly beginning to heal. It was going to take more than just tonight to fix this. They were all lucky it hadn't destroyed his heart, that might mean no more Michael, not that they had ever tested that idea and they weren't going to.


	13. Alive, more or less

He didn't know how long he'd been out. But apparently it had been long enough that the others had to carry him home, because when Michael began to stir, he didn't feel the bite of sand under his side. He felt calico prickle and something sturdy and soft at the same time. It was pretty comfortable, actually. Didn't change the fact that he felt like he'd been run over with a freight train, but it helped to ease the pain a little. Mostly just aches right now and a slight twinge in his chest, but much better than before. Yawning, he pressed closer to whatever it was he was sleeping beside, inhaling a familiar scent. He frowned slowly cracking his eyes open and making a move to sit up. A little too fast, he ended up getting a headache for his trouble.

"Easy, your chest is still tore up pretty bad." David. The blonde was next to him, at least he still had his pants on, "You need rest."

Michael slowly settled back down, keeping himself propped up on his side with an elbow. He wasn't wearing a shirt or jacket, but he vaguely recalled the shirt being torn up and bloodied pretty bad, "how long was I out?" He hardly recognized his own voice, cracked and brittle.

"Just a night and a day. You were torn up pretty bad. Couldn't get up to hang so I stayed with you." He paused, "How're you feeling?"

"You ever heard of Frogger?" Michael asked, drawing his hand up to his chest to feel where the shot had gone through...the skin was tender, but the hole had closed up, at least.

"Isn't that one of those video games? I think I saw it at one of the bars, get a little frog across the street, right?"

"Yeah. I pretty much feel like I just lost three lives in that game. I'm a freeway pancake right now, David," Michael drawled, smirking slightly.

David chuckled softly, "Well, you're probably gonna feel that way for awhile. We don't recover very well from heart damage, if we recover at all."

"Since I met you, I've fallen off a bridge, been stabbed, and shot. Am I missing anything? I'm beginning to think you're bad luck, David." Michael would have laughed, but he had the feeling it was just going to hurt like a bitch if he tried. He watched his pack leader through half-lidded eyes, unsure what else he should say. He couldn't really blame the guy who shot him, but damn did he wish he could've ripped the fucker's head off before it even happened. "For what it's worth, thanks."

"Hey, you're pack now, now and forever. I'm not gonna let some human kill you." He paused, "Besides, I think I'm good luck, you haven't died yet."

That was debatable. Something else was pressing on his mind, though, and Michael wanted to just go ahead and get it out in the open now while he had the guts to ask, because he was fairly sure he'd back down from it once he was feeling better, "you look at me a lot. A _lot_. That's not just because I'm your pack member, is it, David? You don't stare at Paul, Dwayne, or Marko the same way."

David glanced away, "There's something special about you." No point in lying, "When I said the ball was in your court, I meant it. I'm not going to force what I want on you, that's just wrong, but…" He trailed off, wasn't sure if he wanted to say this or not. He looked at Michael, maybe he would just _understand_ and he wouldn't have to say it.

Michael quirked an eyebrow, "this coming from the guy who made a game out of massacring people and trying to one-up each other with grisly car crashes?"

He shrugged, "How about I put it very bluntly. I want to pin you down and fuck you." He locked eyes with him as he spoke, "I want to make you come undone and beg for more."

Well, _that_ definitely shut Michael up. He blinked at David several times trying to come up with a snarky retort, but it just didn't seem fitting right now. They honestly could have just left him out on the beach to die, or crisp up in the sun when he didn't have the strength to walk home. He took a deep breath, more from habit than actual need, and immediately regretted it when he felt a twinge in his chest. Then he let the breath out in a quick huff, slowly giving David a very thorough once-over. Just like the act of breathing, he realized acting as if he actually cared whether David was actually male or female was just another pretense. Granted, there was one thing that kind of bugged him, "why am _I_ the one getting pinned?"

David chuckled softly, grinning at him, "You think you can pin me?" He questioned, "You can try."

Michael scowled, shifting closer to David and leaning forward to kiss him, biting _hard_ at his bottom lip, drawing blood and snaking his tongue out to lick it up, "alright. Let me get a few days to heal up, and I'll catch you when you least expect it." He had the feeling he probably wouldn't get the upper hand, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to fucking give it a shot.

* * *

It had been three weeks since Michael had been shot and the boys were playing poker. Well, most of the boys, Michael was missing. David scowled, tossing his cards down with a full house before getting to his feet.

"Fuck…" Paul grumbled, glaring at David's hand. There was no point in getting mad...he always won. But the false rage was half the game.

"Anyone seen where Michael went?" He asked, he had trouble letting him out of his sight after the shooting. A little paranoid, maybe, but with good reason.

"Think he went toward the back." Marko said absently, scowling at the deck, "Must be rigged." He mumbled, glaring.

"Are you saying all decks don't come with 6 queens?" Dwayne rolled his eyes and glanced up at David, "I think he said something about a missing baseball."

David raised an eyebrow as he headed toward the back. Missing ball? What the hell...Oh. He looked around, maybe he shouldn't have left the ball in Michael's court after all. There was a skittering sound coming from one of the corridors. He glanced that way, eyes narrowed, senses on high alert. The skittering suddenly stopped.

"The fuck?" He headed away from the noise, probably just a rat, "Miiiiichael." He called out. No response, not that he really expected one, "Come out and play because when I find you, I'm gonna make you feel so fucking good."

A shape dashed behind him, disappearing into one of the old rooms. David moved silently, making his way toward the room, stalking his prey. It was fairly empty, without even a scrap of recognizable furniture inside. This was one of the rooms the boys had ransacked for a couch when their old one had given out. Michael wasn't there. He chuckled softly, oh, this was getting interesting. He turned, walking down the hallway, checking the rooms as he passed. He wished he was a better tracker but that was Dwayne's specialty, not his.

Eventually, the game began to wear thin. An hour. A whole fucking hour, and still no sign of Michael. Just as he was turning on his heel and about to stomp back to the lobby, there was a movement above him. He quickly turned his head up to look. Michael immediately dive-bombed him. David snarled, rolling with him, this was more like it! He grinned, wrapping his legs around his waist and flipping him. Michael growled, bucking beneath him until he managed to pin David to the ground with a satisfied, if early cry of victory. David's smile was infuriating as he looked up at him, giving him a moment of triumph before flipping them around, Michael ending up on his stomach beneath the blonde.

"Oh, Michael, this is how you do it." He leaned forward, sinking his fangs into his neck as his hands began to divest him of his clothes. Michael hissed between his teeth, both frustrated and a little excited at the same time. David's bite could be _very_ good when he wanted it to.

"Rematch," Michael insisted, closing his eyes and groaning softly as David ground his fangs into his throat, drawing his hands up underneath Michael's jacket and shirt to run fingers over bare flesh, pulling away to yank Michael's jacket away and sliding his shirt over his head.

David lapped at the wound, rolling his tongue over the area, "Oh, Michael, we can have as many re-matches as you like." He tugged the young vampires pants open and down, "Relax, it gets better." He dragged his tongue down his spine. This got an immediate reaction as Michael shivered, enjoying himself despite his mild frustration. On some level, he'd been _craving_ this from the very beginning, when he'd made his first kill, or even before when he'd had so much of David's blood, there was more of his than Michael's own left in his veins.

David slid down, his nails digging in lightly to the firm globes of his ass before his tongue flicked out to taste him, to work him open. He had promised that he took care of his partners and Michael was rapidly becoming his favorite.

"The fu-?!" Michael's eyes widened as he lowered his head to the ground and gasped. Maybe he'd been with half a dozen or so girls before, but the sex had been fairly vanilla. This was...well, definitely new. "David…" He bit back a moan.

He drive his tongue into him, his fingers sliding inward, one of them slowly working into him, watching him open around it. His free hand slid down his spine before moving to his own pants, freeing himself from the too tight jeans. His tongue and fingers didn't stop, working him open little by little, until Michael began to press back against him, almost involuntarily. Coherent words were becoming a little difficult to muster.

Two fingers slid into him as he pulled back, "Feel good?" He asked, blowing cool air over his twitching hole, "I wanna hear you." He drove his tongue in again, giving a firm thrust with his fingers, working to find his spot. Michael cried out harshly, claws forming as he tried to scratch at the rotted floor and dirt beneath them.

"Holy shit!" The brunette shouted, hardly able to think or even bite back a retort.

He grinned, adding a third, making sure he was nice and open before pulling back, "Ready?" He asked, licking his skin softly.

Michael was panting now, lowering his head to the ground and groaning out an emphatic, "fucking get it over with!" He didn't know if he could take this much longer. As smug as David had been about it, he'd thought half of the bragging had just been his ego going on overdrive. But...damn...

David nodded and without another word he slowly sank into him, growling softly and tipping his head back, eliciting a soft gasp from Michael. It was so perfect, this was what he wanted, what he _needed_ , "You feel so good." He bit out between clenched teeth as he gave his hips a small roll, rocking himself in deep.

Michael's own arousal was painfully apparent as he pressed back against his maker, almost physically begging for more. He definitely wasn't too proud of himself right now. David began to move, leaning forward and forming himself against his back, licking his throat softly. One hand slid down Michael's stomach, his fingers wrapping around him and giving him a firm stroke as he rolled into him, claimed him. This went beyond pure fun or dominance, he wasn't going to _ever_ fucking share this.

"Christ," Michael gasped out, almost surprised just saying the word didn't burn his tongue as he turned his head back to meet David's lips with his own, their tempo picking up as he approached release.

David bit and nipped at his lips and tongue, drawing tiny droplets of blood as he snapped forward, "Close." His breath ghosted across his lips before he claimed them again, stroking him tightly, wanting him to come first.

He tried to hold out longer, to stretch this moment of racing towards climax as long as he could, but he could only last so long. Michael practically screamed as his release finally thundered through him. It was _intense_. He wasn't sure whether it was because he'd just gone so long without getting laid, or the sex was just that much better...but he didn't really care to think about that or anything else right now. "Fuck," he gasped, pressing back against David and urging him to find his own release. One good turn for another.

He snapped forward twice more before coming with a roar, holding Michael close against his chest, panting softly as he nuzzled against his shoulder.

"Mmm, that was perfect." David grinned, relaxing over him, "Bed next time?"

Michael groaned softly in agreement as they settled down to the ground. He felt practically boneless right now. It would take him a good few minutes to get up and try to find that baseball again. He frowned, reaching up to rub at his neck where David had bit him, "it's scarring," he grumbled.

"Mmm, good thing." He nuzzled him again, "Because you're mine."

* * *

Lucy rubbed at her eyes as she climbed into her car after one of the most stressful days she had ever had. From angry customers to frantic management, she knew she wasn't going to last long at this supermarket. Maybe tonight she could take a nice walk on the beach to clear her head...and tomorrow was her day off, so she could browse the paper to see if any new job offers had popped up.

What was really frustrating though, beyond just the job, was the fact that she hadn't heard from her eldest son in over a _month._ It was as if he'd disappeared off the face of the planet! If it hadn't been for dad trying to comfort her and remind her he was a grown man who could take care of himself, she would have thought he'd somehow ended up kidnapped or murdered. But jumping to that conclusion just because he hadn't bothered to give her a phone call was a little silly.

As she pulled into the parking lot at the boardwalk, pocketing her keys, Lucy immediately headed for where she recalled seeing an iced lemonade stand not too long ago. That would be nice...some iced lemonade while she walked on the beach. Oddly enough, she saw Michael's bike parked alongside several others as she made her way to the stand. Maybe he was living with those friends who'd come over that one night…? She was pretty sure they'd been driving motorcycles...it was the only thing to explain all the noise when they'd left.

Lucy was tempted to just linger there while she had her lemonade, but decided against it. Fussing over him like a mother hen wasn't going to encourage him to visit. Clearly he was still having issues because of the divorce, and for some reason he was taking it out on her. It wasn't like Michael, but there were worse alternatives.

The beach was beautiful, but there were so many people out here...she didn't really want to worry about having her purse stolen or bumping into rowdy strangers on her walk, so she wended her way down the beach as far as it took for the sounds of the raucous music and rides to die out. Now it was just her, alone with the crashing waves and her lemonade.

She took a deep breath and let it out, sticking the small plastic spoon into her mouth and savoring the sweet treat. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, just enjoying the sounds of the evening...until something else pierced her senses. It sounded like...muffled screaming? Lucy's eyes widened, and she clutched her purse close as she was drawn towards the sound. She knew it wasn't smart, but she couldn't just let someone get hurt out here if it turned out there was something she could do to stop it!

There was laughter, the closer she got the louder the screams became. What she saw was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Michael, her son, her baby boy, was holding a young woman to his chest. Her throat torn and bleeding as he buried his face into the blood, laughing with the other boys. They were all covered in blood, it looked almost black in the moonlight. There were two young men and another woman laying on the ground between them, all of them ravaged, all of them dead.

Lucy's lemonade fell from her hands, the yellow chips of ice sparkling amidst the glass in the sand. "M...Mi…" She breathed out, gasping as she tried to summon the sound, the strength to shout his name. But all that came out was a raw, primal, heartbroken and horrified shriek.

Five sets of golden eyes turned to look at her and in that moment she knew what true terror really was. Michael quickly released his victim, making no further movement as she took a step back. Then another. And soon, Lucy was tearing off down the beach, running away from her living nightmare, death incarnate, in the shape of her own child.

Michael stared after her, licking at the blood from his fingers, eyes finally sliding over to meet David's, "god damn it…"

"It was bound to happen eventually." He said with a shrug.

"Guess it's time we call in that favor your little dorky brother owes us, huh?" Marko called out, as he knelt down to one of the bodies and began to rifle through the pockets...eyes landing on a particularly nice piece of fabric before he shredded it from the girl's skirt and pocketed it. Another day, another patch.


End file.
